A hybrid quantum-neural network for heart disease classification

Quantum Machine Learning represents a promising approach to address complex computational challenges beyond classical computing capabilities. In this study, we investigate its application to healthcare, focusing specifically on the classification of cardiovascular diseases. Classical Machine Learning methods often struggle with high-dimensional data, resulting in limited accuracy and reduced generalization, especially in real-world medical scenarios. To overcome these issues, we propose a Hybrid Quantum-Neural Network that combines classical Autoencoders for dimensionality reduction with Quantum Neural Networks, facilitating effective data processing compatible with current NISQ hardware. Evaluated on the Cleveland dataset, our HQNN achieves state-of-the-art classification accuracy up to 90.98%, outperforming purely classical counterparts by capturing complex feature relationships in the quantum domain. We further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed HQNN model in scenarios characterized by limited training data and realistic noisy quantum environments, performing robustness analyses and simulations using IBM's quantum hardware framework. These findings highlight the practical advantages of our Hybrid Quantum-Neural Network, underscoring its suitability and immediate applicability for real-world healthcare scenarios. The code is made publicly available.