Rethinking Tokenization for Clinical Time Series: When Less is More

arXiv — cs.LGMonday, December 8, 2025 at 5:00:00 AM
  • A systematic evaluation of tokenization strategies for clinical time series modeling using transformer-based architectures has revealed that explicit time encodings do not consistently enhance performance across various clinical prediction tasks on MIMIC-IV. The findings indicate that value features are task-dependent, with implications for mortality prediction but not for readmission rates.
  • This development is significant as it challenges existing assumptions about the necessity of time encodings in clinical models, suggesting that simpler approaches may yield comparable or superior results while reducing complexity and resource requirements.
  • The exploration of tokenization and its impact on model performance reflects a broader trend in artificial intelligence research, where the efficiency of models is increasingly prioritized. This aligns with ongoing discussions about the balance between model complexity and predictive accuracy, particularly in healthcare applications where data-driven insights are crucial.
— via World Pulse Now AI Editorial System

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