Artificial Intelligence for Rapid Exclusion of COVID-19 Infection

An international retrospective study finds that infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, creates subtle electrical changes in the heart. An AI-enhanced EKG can detect these changes and potentially be used as a rapid, reliable COVID-19 screening test to rule out COVID-19 infection. The AI-enhanced EKG was able to detect COVID-19 infection in the test with a positive predictive value -- people infected -- of 37% and a negative predictive value -- people not infected -- of 91%. When additional normal control subjects were added to reflect a 5% prevalence of COVID-19 -- similar to a real-world population -- the negative predictive value jumped to 99.2%. The findings are published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.