Why the study?
Pre-existing AF and postoperative new-onset AF are independent perioperative risk factors associated with increased short-term mortality and adverse events. An AI model capable of detecting hidden AF from sinus rhythm ECGs was needed to improve perioperative risk assessment.
Does preoperative AI-enabled sinus rhythm ECG risk stratification predict postoperative new-onset atrial fibrillation and 30-day all-cause mortality in patients without known atrial fibrillation undergoing non-cardiac surgery?
Cohort (n=13,687)
Yes
Does preoperative AI-enabled sinus rhythm ECG risk stratification predict postoperative new-onset atrial fibrillation and 30-day all-cause mortality in patients without known atrial fibrillation undergoing non-cardiac surgery?
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
An AI model analyzing a single preoperative sinus rhythm ECG accurately identifies patients at high risk for postoperative new-onset atrial fibrillation and 30-day all-cause mortality following non-cardiac surgery, outperforming traditional clinical risk scores.
Background: Pre-existing atrial fibrillation (AF) and postoperative new-onset AF (NOAF) are independent perioperative risk factors associated with increased short-term mortality and adverse events.This study aimed to develop and validate an artificial intelligence (AI) model capable of detecting hidden AF, including both pre-existing AF and NOAF, from sinus rhythm electrocardiograms, to improve perioperative risks assessment.Methods: We trained and validated an AI model to detect hidden AF.Subsequent analysis confirmed the prognostic relevance of both pre-existing AF and NOAF in patients receiving non-cardiac surgery.The AI model was applied to patients without known AF to evaluate its predictive capability for NOAF and to stratify short-term clinical outcomes.Results: The AI model demonstrated an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.87 during the development phase for predicting AF.In an independent validation cohort, pre-existing AF and postoperative NOAF were significantly correlated with increased 30-day all-cause mortality.Patients without pre-existing AF who were classified as high-risk by the AI model had substantially higher 30-day all-cause mortality than their low-risk counterparts (HR 17.33, 95% CI 5.29-56.75).Furthermore, the model scores surpassed conventional clinical risk scores in predicting NOAF and 30-day all-cause mortality.Conclusions: This AI-based approach facilitated the accurate identification of patients with elevated perioperative AF-related risk.It will facilitate focused interventions that may enhance clinical outcomes.
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Lee et al. (2026) conducted a cohort in Patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery in sinus rhythm evaluated for hidden atrial fibrillation and perioperative mortality risk (n=13,687). AI-ECG high-risk classification for hidden atrial fibrillation vs. AI-ECG low-risk classification for hidden atrial fibrillation was evaluated on 30-day all-cause mortality following surgery (HR 17.33, 95% CI 5.29-56.75).
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