%0 Journal Article
%A González-Cabeza, Sergio
%A Sanz-Guerrero, Mario
%A Piñuel, Luis
%A Buelga Suárez, Mauro Luis
%A Alonso Salinas, Gonzalo Luis
%A Diaz-Vicente, Marian
%A Recas Piorno, Joaquín
%T Reducing leads, enhancing wearable practicality: A comparative study of 3-lead vs. 12-lead ECG classification
%D 2025
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/132929
%X Inspired by recent advances in clinical research and the growing adoption of wearable ECG devices, this study explores the feasibility of using reduced-lead ECGs for automated detection of heart anomalies using deep learning, providing a more accessible and cost-effective alternative to traditional 12-lead ECGs. This research adapts and evaluates a state-of-the-art 12-lead deep learning model (from Ribeiro et al. [1]) for 3-lead configurations. The 12-lead ECG model architecture was trained from scratch on the public database PTB-XL. It was then modified to use 3 leads by only changing the input layer. Despite a 75% reduction in input data, the 3-lead model showed only a subtle 3% performance drop. To address this gap, the 3-lead model was further optimized using a novel strategy that combines transfer learning and a One-vs-All classification approach. Using PTB-XL's five-class setup (normal vs. four pathologies: myocardial infarction, ST/T change, conduction disturbance, and hypertrophy), we report the micro-averaged F1-score across all test samples. The new optimized 3-lead model achieves a global (micro-averaged) F1-score of 77% (vs. 78% for the 12-lead model). These findings highlight the potential of simplified and cost-effective reduced-lead classification models to deliver near-equivalent diagnostic accuracy. This advancement could democratize access to early cardiac diagnostics, particularly in resource-limited settings.
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