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Computer treason: intraobserver variability of an electrocardiographic computer system
1St. Vincent Hospital, and the Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester 01604-4593, USA.
The American Journal of Cardiology
|July 1, 1997
Summary
An electrocardiogram computer system showed significant self-disagreement in over a third of tests. This indicates potential unreliability in automated electrocardiogram analysis for unchanged readings.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Medical device technology
- Health informatics
Background:
- Automated electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation systems are widely used in clinical practice.
- Ensuring the reliability and reproducibility of these systems is crucial for accurate patient diagnosis and management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the intra-system reproducibility of an electrocardiogram computer system.
- To evaluate the agreement of the system with itself when analyzing identical, unchanged ECG recordings.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 92 pairs of unselected electrocardiograms (ECGs) was analyzed.
- Each ECG pair consisted of recordings taken 1 minute apart, with no clinical changes expected between recordings.
- The electrocardiogram computer system's interpretations for each pair were compared for agreement.
Main Results:
- The electrocardiogram computer system exhibited significant self-disagreement in 36 out of 92 pairs (39.1%).
- These disagreements occurred despite the ECG recordings being unchanged and recorded only one minute apart, suggesting intra-system variability.
Conclusions:
- The study highlights significant intra-system variability in the analyzed electrocardiogram computer system.
- This variability raises concerns about the consistency and reliability of automated ECG interpretation, particularly for unchanged recordings.