![[Harvard logo]](html/hms.png)
![[MIT logo]](html/mit.png)
MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database CD-ROMThird Edition, May 1997Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology |
MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database CD-ROMThird Edition, May 1997Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology |
This CD-ROM is a tool for development and evaluation of automated ECG analyzers as well as for basic research in cardiac electrophysiology and related areas, developed over a period of many years to support work on these subjects at MIT and at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital (BIH), and published for the use of others engaged in such efforts. The disk is written in ISO 9660 format, with Rock Ridge extensions, readable on MS-DOS, MS-Windows, UNIX, Macintosh, VMS, and other systems.
This disk is organized like a web site, and can most easily be explored using any web browser. (Netscape 3.0 or later is recommended under Linux, MS-Windows, Solaris, and SunOS, but others are acceptable). A network connection is not necessary in order to use a web browser to read the hypertext documents on this disk. A few of these documents contain links to resources on the Internet, and a network connection is needed if you wish to follow these links.
This disk contains several hundred ECG recordings, over two hundred hours in all. Individual recordings contain one to three signals and range from 20 seconds to nearly 24 hours in length; most have two signals, are about 30 minutes long, and are annotated beat-by-beat. About one-sixth of the disk is occupied by the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database, which is fully annotated. The disk also contains nine additional ECG databases, and samples of several other databases of ECGs and other physiologic signals. Two of these databases contain an additional 650 hours of beat-to-beat (RR) interval time series (without accompanying digitized ECG signals), which have been provided to support studies of heart rate variability, detection of atrial fibrillation from interbeat intervals, and related subjects. These data are found in eleven directories on this disk:
Within these directories, you can recognize all files associated with any given recording by the initial part of the file name (the record name).
This CD-ROM also includes a substantial collection of software for use with these databases, and a large amount of documentation. This material is contained within three additional directories:
If you don't have a web browser, the hypertext documents (files with the suffix htm, found mostly in the html directory and its subdirectories) may be read using any method you choose for reading text files. If you prefer to use printed manuals, you may print your own (see About this CD-ROM for information on doing so), or you may purchase printed copies from MIT (use our interactive order form).
Follow the links below for information about the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database and this disk.
The links in this group lead to files on this CD-ROM:
The mitdb, cudb, and nstdb directories contain digitized signals and reference annotations that must be used for testing ECG analyzers in accordance with the current American National Standard for Ambulatory Electrocardiograms (ANSI/AAMI EC38). EC38 also requires testing using the AHA Database and (for software or devices that are intended to track ST changes) the European ST-T Database, neither of which is included here (see software/db/SOURCES.TXT for the addresses of the suppliers of these databases). The DB Software Package (in the software directory of this disk) includes reference implementations of the algorithms specified by EC38 for deriving ECG analyzer performance statistics from comparisons of reference and analyzer-produced annotation files. The DB Software Package also includes a library of subroutines (callable from C, C++, or Fortran programs) that can be used by your analysis software to read the recordings in these and other compatible databases, and to write annotation files compatible with those on this disk. This software is included in both C source form and as precompiled binaries for Linux, MS-DOS/MS-Windows, Solaris, and SunOS.
Except when otherwise stated in writing, the copyright holders and/or other parties provide the software ``as is'' without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the software is with the purchaser. Should the software prove defective, the purchaser assumes the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction.
In no event unless required by applicable law shall any copyright holder be liable for any damages whatsoever, including any general, special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of or inability to use the software (including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by the purchaser or third parties or a failure of the software to operate with any other programs), even if such holder has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Unreadable CD-ROMs may be exchanged for replacements without charge. Please mark any package containing media to be exchanged as ``Returned goods of U.S. origin'' if it is sent from outside of the U.S.
The MIT-BIH databases came to exist as a result of a long and fruitful collaboration between our laboratories: the Biomedical Engineering Center of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, housed in historic Building 20 at MIT, and the Arrhythmia and Biomedical Engineering Research Laboratories of Boston's Beth Israel Hospital (now the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center).
The MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database was the first of our databases of physiologic signals, and it continues to attract the greatest interest of those on this CD-ROM. It was originally distributed, beginning in 1980, on half-inch 9-track tapes. When we were able (in 1989) to publish it in CD-ROM format, we took the opportunity to include many of the additional sets of ECG recordings we had collected in the interim. Although they are included on this CD-ROM, these additional recordings have not been formally incorporated into the original arrhythmia database, since that database has been adopted as standard material for evaluation of arrhythmia detectors. (It is also important to note that the scrutiny given each of the roughly 109,000 annotations in the original database, not only by its developers but also by hundreds of users around the world, has been approached but not matched in the development of our later databases.) The title we chose for the first edition of this CD-ROM reflected the special status of the arrhythmia database; in any event, there wasn't enough room on the label to print the names of all of the other databases on it!
The recordings contained in the MIT-BIH databases included on this disk were gathered in the Beth Israel Hospital between 1976 and early 1996. In late 1996, the Beth Israel Hospital and the Deaconess Hospital merged to form the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). While the name of the institution has changed, the databases (and the literature in which they are cited) have not. To avoid confusion, the names of the databases and of this CD-ROM have not changed, although it is no longer correct to refer to our hospital as BIH.
Please send your questions, comments, or suggestions to:
George B. Moody (george@mit.edu)
Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room E25-505A
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA