Artificial intelligence could help GPs identify those most at risk of deadly heart disease, new research shows.
A team at the University of Leeds developed the tool, which scans GPs’ medical records and alerts doctors to high-risk patients. They can then be called into the surgery for potentially life-saving treatment.
Approximately eight out of ten people with heart and circulatory diseases have at least one other health problem, or so-called comorbidity.
Scientists trained the program to look for conditions linked to cardiac deaths, using medical records of 2 million patients.
400,000 people were identified as being at high risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, such as a heart attack or stroke, and three-quarters of them died during a ten-year follow-up.
Artificial intelligence could help GPs identify people at higher risk of deadly heart disease (file photo)
For the trial, the AI scanned the records of 82 high-risk patients for symptoms of conditions that lead to death from heart problems, including kidney disease and diabetes, highlighting telltale signs such as shortness of breath.
Researchers found that the tool identified patients at an earlier stage and more accurately than current methods, which could lead to better management of risk factors, ultimately preventing conditions from worsening and reducing the likelihood of heart-related death.
Many were found to have undiagnosed conditions or had not received medication that could reduce their risk of developing them.
One in five patients received a diagnosis of kidney disease that would otherwise have gone undetected, according to findings presented at the European Society of Cardiology congress in London.
More than half of people with high blood pressure were given different medications to better control their risk of death from heart problems.
Dr Ramesh Nadarajah, from the University of Leeds, co-author of the study, said: ‘Heart-related deaths are often caused by a constellation of factors.
A team at the University of Leeds developed the tool, which scans GPs’ medical records and alerts doctors to high-risk patients (file photo)
‘This AI uses readily available data to gather new insights that could help healthcare professionals ensure they provide timely care to their patients.
‘We hope our research will ultimately benefit patients with heart and circulatory diseases, as well as helping to relieve pressure on our NHS systems, as prevention is often cheaper than treatment.’
The researchers said they planned to conduct a larger clinical trial, but hoped the AI tool could be available within the next two years. They anticipate that GPs could use it twice a year to monitor patients.
Professor Bryan Williams, scientific and medical director at the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study, said: “A quarter of all deaths in the UK are caused by heart and circulatory disease. This exciting study harnesses ever-evolving artificial intelligence technology to detect the multitude of conditions that contribute to these.”
‘Early diagnosis is key to reducing hospital admissions and deaths from heart disease.’