OBJECTIVE

To assess the value of wearable 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) devices in pre-hospital diagnosis of acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

METHODS

This analysis was conducted among 441 patients selected from the''National ECG Network'', who used wearable 12-lead ECG device with critical situation warning of ST change between January 2019, and August, 2021.The general characteristics, response time and complaints of the patients with STEMI were analyzed.The accuracy of pre-hospital diagnosis of STEMI was compared between clinician's interpretation of ECGs and AI diagnosis by the wearable ECG device.

RESULTS

In 89 of the patients, a pre-hospital diagnosis of STEMI was made by physicians based on ECGs from the wearable devices, and 58 of them sought medical attention after online warning, with a referral rate of 65.17%.The average time for diagnostic assessment of the ECGs was 153.02 s, and the average time for confirmation of the diagnosis was 178.06 s.The sensitivity for pre-hospital diagnosis of STEMI by clinician's interpretation of the ECGs and by AI diagnosis was 100% and 88.37%, respectively, with a specificity of 95.40% and 79.31%, respectively.The pre-hospital diagnosis by clinicians and AI diagnosis of STEMI both showed a high consistency with the subsequent definite clinical diagnosis of STEMI.

CONCLUSION

Wearable 12-lead ECG devices can accurately record ECG characteristics of STEMI patients outside the hospital and allow immediate data uploading for an early diagnosis.The diagnoses of STEMI made based on AI technology are highly consistent with those by clinicians, demonstrating excellent clinical performance of the wearable ECG devices.