Giving the AI additional details about other background risk factors, such as age, gender and whether they already have high blood pressure and are obese, can improve predictive power, says lead researcher Dr Fu Siong Ng.
He told BBC News: “It’s already pretty good with just the ECG data, but it’s even better when you add it.
An EKG (electrocardiogram) records and can detect problems with the heart’s electrical activity, including speed and rhythm.
Dr Fu says the EKG changes detected by the system are too varied and subtle for even highly trained doctors to interpret with the naked eye.
“It’s not as simple as saying it’s this or that part of the EKG. It’s looking at a combination of subtle things.”
As part of the trial, up to 1,000 patients at both hospitals will have ECG scans read by the AI system to see if it helps detect and predict disease.
It is not yet something that will be routinely offered, although experts hope it could be introduced more widely across the NHS. That could take five years or more, Dr. Fu says.