# Deriving Health Metrics from the Photoplethysmogram: Benchmarks and Insights from MIMIC-III-Ext-PPG

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.21832 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.21832/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 54 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Mar 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [ResNet strikes back: An improved training procedure in timm](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.00476/) (2021)
- [Deep Learning for ECG Analysis: Benchmarks and Insights from PTB-XL](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.13701/) (2020)
- [TROIKA: A General Framework for Heart Rate Monitoring Using Wrist-Type Photoplethysmographic Signals During Intensive Physical Exercise](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.5181/) (2014)
- [Explaining Deep Learning for ECG Analysis: Building Blocks for Auditing and Knowledge Discovery](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.17043/) (2023)
- [Q-PPG: Energy-Efficient PPG-based Heart Rate Monitoring on Wearable Devices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.14907/) (2022)
- [Generalizable deep learning for photoplethysmography-based blood pressure estimation -- A Benchmarking Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.19167/) (2025)
- [Machine-learning for photoplethysmography analysis: Benchmarking feature, image, and signal-based approaches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.19949/) (2025)
- [EnhancePPG: Improving PPG-based Heart Rate Estimation with Self-Supervision and Augmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.17860/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Uncertainty Reliability Under Domain Shift: An Investigation for Data-Driven Blood Pressure Estimation in Photoplethysmography](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.18008/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is one of the most widely captured biosignals for clinical prediction tasks, yet PPG-based algorithms are typically trained on small-scale datasets of uncertain quality, which hinders meaningful algorithm comparisons. We present a comprehensive benchmark for PPG-based clinical prediction using the dbname~dataset, establishing baselines across the full spectrum of clinically relevant applications: multi-class heart rhythm classification, and regression of physiological parameters including respiratory rate (RR), heart rate (HR), and blood pressure (BP). Most notably, we provide the first comprehensive assessment of PPG for general arrhythmia detection beyond atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial flutter (AFLT), with performance stratified by BP, HR, and demographic subgroups. Using established deep learning architectures, we achieved strong performance for AF detection (AUROC = 0.96) and accurate physiological parameter estimation (RR MAE: 2.97 bpm; HR MAE: 1.13 bpm; SBP/DBP MAE: 16.13/8.70 mmHg). Cross-dataset validation demonstrates excellent generalizability for AF detection (AUROC = 0.97), while clinical subgroup analysis reveals marked performance differences across subgroups by BP, HR, and demographic strata. These variations appear to reflect population-specific waveform differences rather than systematic bias in model behavior. This framework establishes the first integrated benchmark for multi-task PPG-based clinical prediction, demonstrating that PPG signals can effectively support multiple simultaneous monitoring tasks and providing essential baselines for future algorithm development.