The European ST-T database: development, distribution and use

The European project for the development of an ST-T annotated database originated from the `Concerted Action´ on ambulatory monitoring, set up by the European Community in 1985. The goal was to define an electrocardiographic (ECG) database for assessing the quality of ambulatory ECG monitoring (AECG) systems. Thirteen research groups from 8 countries continued providing AEGG tapes and annotating beat-by-beat the selected 2-channel records, each 2 hours in duration. ST segment and T-wave changes were identified and their onset, offset and peak beats annotated in addition to QRSs, beat types, rhythm and signal quality changes. The first set of 50 records was completed and stored on compact-disk ROM. It includes more than 200 ST segment and almost 300 T-wave changes. In cooperation with the developers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-Boston´s Beth Israel Hospital (BIH) arrhythmia database, the annotation scheme was devised to be consistent with both MIT-BIH and American Heart Association (AHA) formats