Machine learning and data science have been found to have a significant impact on improving health care.
You may have not realised it but data science is already utilised in healthcare technology through many modalities.
Monitoring and preventing health problems
Information about our heart rate, sleep patterns, blood glucose, stress levels and brain activity can all be monitored with the help of data science.
Various software is available to help individuals change their lifestyles and keep their weight under control.
Smart devices such as scales and pedometers as well as applications with sources and processes that help monitor a person’s behavioural data help create customised health programmes that can be tailor-made to meet the needs of its users.
Improving the accuracy of diagnosis
According to the National Academics of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, more than 12 million individuals are misdiagnosed each year in the US.
In order to help with this situation, a deep learning algorithm that can read and analyse imaging data (such as x-rays and CT scans) as well as combining it with clinical reports and laboratory studies was formulated.
This data science is expected to be 70% more accurate in helping diagnosis.
Improve personalised treatment and informed care in patients
Through data science, tracking the clinical course of patients is made possible through technology use by doctors, and can significantly reduce death rates and eventually lead to better medical outcomes.
Data science paves the way for precision medicine whereby instead of providing a general treatment for the type of cancer, every symptom of the disease can then be specified together with the individual condition, medical history and DNA information in order to tailor the treatment plan for the individual.
Advancing pharmaceutical research
In the quest to find a cure for Ebola and cancer, data science now has made it possible to utilise powerful machine learning algorithms that can be used to analyse biological samples from over 1,000 patients with these diseases.
Certain drugs have also been manufactured to detect malignant cells and to destroy these cells without extensive medication or invasive procedures.
Various artificial intelligence programmes have also been used to discover and to help the search for a cure for illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola and Zika.
Data science usage on exercise study: a practical example
A scientific experiment conducted by Tarnopolsky and his colleagues that examined the scientific effects and benefits of exercise on genetically challenged and compromised mice showed the incredible healing effects exercise had in reversing the negative effects of a faulty gene.
This inspired more research to be conducted with patients with genetic disorders. As quoted by Tarnopolsky who treats patients with genetic disorders, “The most effective therapy available to my patients right now is exercise.”
Besides that, recent research has revealed the benefits of exercise not only to the heart, muscles, lungs and bones but also to the brain as it has been linked to decreasing depression, increasing memory power and improving fast learning.
Indeed, data science in the health industry is vital for effective health management.
Perhaps it is now time to utilise one through the use of available software, apps and health services that are built to optimise your health.
This article is written in collaboration with Naluri and first appeared in hellodoktor.com. It was reviewed by Dr Duyen Le. The Hello Health Group does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.