ECG Signal Classification Method Based on Structural Risk Minimization

Abstract

Arrhythmia stands as a primary contributor to cardiovascular disease-associated mortality. Therefore, the classification and monitoring of abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) signals are of paramount importance for preventive purposes. Although deep - learning - based ECG classification methods have yielded promising outcomes, they frequently encounter challenges in optimizing performance across diverse patient datasets. To overcome these limitations, this research endeavors to enhance the generalization ability of deep - learning models for ECG signal classification. It achieves this by integrating structural risk minimization principles and incorporating RR interval information into the classification process. A convolutional neural network (CNN) founded on structural risk minimization is proposed. Instead of employing the traditional cross-entropy loss, this study adopts a loss function inspired by support vector machine (SVM) classifiers to optimize the CNN. Moreover, the RR interval information, which is often lost during beat segmentation, is manually extracted and integrated into the CNN network to improve classification accuracy. The proposed method attains an accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity of 88.2% respectively, demonstrating superior performance when compared to traditional and existing methods. This improvement underscores the efficacy of the structural risk minimization approach and the integration of RR interval information in enhancing the model's generalization across patient datasets. The method's convenience and effectiveness render it particularly well-suited for real-time application in wearable devices, facilitating the early detection of abnormal ECG patterns and potentially preventing cardiovascular disease-related fatalities.