Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42126358›Full record

ArticleJournal of the American College of Cardiology2026

ECG Signatures and Long-Term Ischemic Stroke Risk: A Deep Learning Analysis of 200,000 Patients.

Rahul Mahajan, Danielle F Pace, Samuel F Friedman, Shinwan Kany, Valentina D'Souza, Athar Roshandelpoor, Tamara N Kimball, Savvina Prapiadou, Benjamin Y Q Tan, Jonathan W Waks and 5 more

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Article in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Rahul MahajanCardiovascular Disease Initiative, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Danielle F PaceData Sciences Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Samuel F FriedmanData Sciences Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Shinwan KanyCardiovascular Disease Initiative, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Cardiology, University Heart and Vascular Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site Hamburg/Kiel/Lübeck, Hamburg, Germany.
Valentina D'SouzaData Sciences Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Athar RoshandelpoorCardiology Division, Beth Israel Dea-coness Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Tamara N KimballDepartment of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Savvina PrapiadouDepartment of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Benjamin Y Q TanDivision of Neurology, Department of Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore.
Jonathan W WaksCardiology Division, Beth Israel Dea-coness Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Jennifer E HoCardiology Division, Beth Israel Dea-coness Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Patrick T EllinorCardiovascular Disease Initiative, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Cardiovascular Research Center, Heart and Vascular Institute, Mass General Brigham, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Telemachus and Irene Demoulas Family Foundation Center for Cardiac Arrhythmias, Heart and Vascular Institute, Mass General Brigham, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Mahnaz MaddahData Sciences Platform, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Christopher D AndersonCardiovascular Disease Initiative, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Shaan KhurshidCardiovascular Disease Initiative, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; Cardiovascular Research Center, Heart and Vascular Institute, Mass General Brigham, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Telemachus and Irene Demoulas Family Foundation Center for Cardiac Arrhythmias, Heart and Vascular Institute, Mass General Brigham, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Electronic address: skhurshid@mgb.org.

Funding

Ethnic/Racial Variation in Intracerebral Hemorrhage (ERICH)U01NS069763 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI · PI ANDERSON, CHRISTOPHER DAVID, DEMEL, STACIE · 2010 to 2024
$34.2M
IDENTIFICATION OF COMMON GENETIC VARIANTS FOR ATRIAL FIBRILLATION AND PR INTERVALR01HL092577 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI BENJAMIN, EMELIA J., ELLINOR, PATRICK THOMAS · 2009 to 2025
$20.6M
Sequencing Annotation and Functional Analysis in Risk of Intracerebral HemorrhageR01NS103924 · NINDS · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI ANDERSON, CHRISTOPHER DAVID · 2018 to 2022
$3.4M
Eicosanoid Profiles as Determinants of HFpEFR01HL140224 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI HO, JENNIFER E · 2018 to 2021
$3.1M
The Association of Metabolic Disease and Pulmonary HypertensionR01HL134893 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI HO, JENNIFER E · 2017 to 2021
$2.9M
Long-Term Endothelial Effects of COVID-19 in ObesityR01HL160003 · NHLBI · BETH ISRAEL DEACONESS MEDICAL CENTER · PI HAMBURG, NAOMI MIRIAM, HO, JENNIFER E · 2022 to 2025
$2.8M
Mentoring in Arrhythmia ResearchK24HL105780 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI ELLINOR, PATRICK THOMAS · 2011 to 2020
$1.2M
Electrocardiogram-based deep learning and decision analysis to improve atrial fibrillation risk estimationK23HL169839 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI Shaan Khurshid · 2023 to 2026
$860k
Mentoring in Patient-Oriented and Translational HFpEF ResearchK24HL153669 · NHLBI · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI Jennifer E Ho · 2020 to 2026
$744k
NHLBI NIH HHS K23 HL169839NHLBI NIH HHS K24 HL105780NHLBI NIH HHS K24 HL153669NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL092577NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL134893NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL140224NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL160003NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS103924NINDS NIH HHS U01 NS069763
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundScalable risk stratification for ischemic stroke remains an unmet need.

objectivesIn this study, the authors sought to assess whether deep learning of 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs) can estimate longitudinal ischemic stroke risk and quantify the extent to which risk signals reflect plausible mechanisms (eg, atrial cardiopathy).

methodsWe trained a convolutional neural network to estimate the 10-year risk of incident ischemic stroke with the use of 12-lead ECG among patients receiving longitudinal care at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Neural network-derived stroke probabilities, age, and sex were integrated into a Cox proportional hazards model ("ECG2Stroke"). Within an MGH test set ("MGH Test"), as well as independent samples from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), we assessed model discrimination (area under the curve [AUC]) and calibration (integrated calibration index [ICI]). ECG2Stroke was compared with the revised Framingham Stroke Risk Profile (FSRP). Saliency mapping, associations with clinical factors and structured ECG features, and performance across stroke subtypes were assessed.

resultsECG2Stroke was developed in 101,496 individuals from MGH (age 57 ± 16 years, 48% women), and evaluated in MGH Test (n = 4,771; age 57 ± 16 years, 49% women), BWH (n = 68,884; age 57 ± 16 years, 55% women), and BIDMC (n = 29,882; age 56 ± 17 years, 54% women). At 10 years, there were 346 stroke events in MGH Test, 3,209 in BWH, and 1,236 in BIDMC. ECG2Stroke demonstrated moderate discrimination of incident stroke (10-year AUCs: MGH Test, 0.795; BWH, 0.774; BIDMC, 0.772) and low calibration error (ICIs: MGH Test, 0.030; BWH, 0.005; BIDMC, 0.026). In patients with available data, 10-year AUC for ECG2Stroke was similar to FSRP (MGH/BWH Test: ECG2Stroke, 0.791; FSRP, 0.779; BIDMC: ECG2Stroke, 0.745; FSRP, 0.728). Stratification persisted across subgroups, including patients with and without atrial fibrillation. Saliency maps highlighted the ECG P-wave, and risk estimates correlated with structured P-wave indices. ECG2Stroke was strongly associated with cardioembolic stroke (cause-specific HR: 2.17 per 1-SD of logit-transformed probability; 95% CI: 1.64-2.87) but not noncardioembolic stroke.

conclusionsECG-based artificial intelligence (AI) can predict 10-year ischemic stroke with performance similar to a validated clinical score, possibly by encoding markers of abnormal atrial substrate linked to cardioembolism. AI-enabled ECG analysis may enable efficient prioritization for stroke prevention.

Indexed as

Brain IschemiaDeep LearningElectrocardiographyIschemic StrokeAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedRisk AssessmentRisk Factorsartificial intelligenceatrial cardiopathydeep learningelectrocardiographyischemic strokerisk stratification

Identifiers

PMID42126358
PMCPMC13656834

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