Application of Deep Learning for Heart Attack Prediction with Explainable Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Heart disease remains a leading cause of mortality worldwide, and the timely and accurate prediction of heart attack is crucial yet challenging due to the complexity of the condition and the limitations of traditional diagnostic methods. These challenges include the need for resource-intensive diagnostics and the difficulty in interpreting complex predictive models in clinical settings. In this study, we apply and compare the performance of five well-known Deep Learning (DL) models, namely Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), and a Hybrid model, to a heart attack prediction dataset. Each model was properly tuned and evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC) as performance metrics. Additionally, by integrating an Explainable Artificial intelligence (XAI) technique, specifically Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP), we enhance the interpretability of the predictions, making them actionable for healthcare professionals and thereby enhancing clinical applicability. The experimental results revealed that the Hybrid model prevailed, achieving the highest performance across all metrics. Specifically, the Hybrid model attained an accuracy of 91%, precision of 89%, recall of 90%, F1-score of 89%, and an AUC of 0.95. These results highlighted the Hybrid model’s superior ability to predict heart attacks, attributed to its efficient handling of sequential data and long-term dependencies.