Atrial fibrillation causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate, and can sometimes be higher than 100 beats per minute, which can cause problems including dizziness, shortness of breath and tiredness.

The research findings are published in The Lancet reveal the research group at the clinic developed an AI-enabled electrocardiograph (ECG) using a convolutional neural network to ‘detect he electrocardiographic signature of atrial fibrillation present during normal sinus rhythm using standard 10-second, 12-lead ECGs.

The study included nearly 181,000 patients aged 18 years or older with at least one digital, normal sinus rhythm, standard 10-second, 12-lead ECG acquired in the supine position at the Mayo Clinic ECG laboratory between Dec 31, 1993, and July 21, 2017.

The team behind the study has said it is still early days and further research and testing was needed.

Dr Paul Friedman from the Mayo Clinic, is quoted by BBC News, saying: "It is like looking at the ocean now and being able to tell that there were big waves yesterday."