The groundbreaking tool scours doctors’ records to look for “red flags” that could indicate whether a patient is at risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF), a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate. Patients with it have a significantly higher risk of having a stroke.
One former army captain, John Pengelly, said he is “really grateful” that his AF was detected. He now just takes a “couple of pills a day” to reduce his heightened risk of a potentially deadly stroke.
For some, AF can lead to heart palpitations, dizziness, shortness of breath and tiredness. But others have no symptoms and the affected person is completely unaware that their heart rate is irregular.
Around 1.6 million people across the UK have been diagnosed with AF. But leading heart charity the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said there are likely many thousands of undiagnosed others who are unaware they are living with the condition.
When AF is identified and treated early, it can be managed and the stroke risk reduced.
The new AI tool is being assessed in a trial funded by the BHF and Leeds Hospitals Charity. The algorithm was developed by scientists and clinicians at the University of Leeds and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, with funding from the BHF.
They created the tool using anonymised electronic health records of over 2.1 million people, training the algorithm to find warning signs that could indicate a person is at risk of developing AF. The tool was validated with medical records from a further 10 million people.
Experts are assessing how effective it is at finding people who are at risk of developing AF in the next six months. Those identified are then offered further testing.
The algorithm works out someone’s risk based on a number of factors including age, sex, ethnicity, and whether or not they have other medical conditions including heart failure, high blood pressure, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Those identified as high risk are offered a handheld electrocardiography machine to measure their heart rhythm twice a day for four weeks, as well as any time they feel heart palpitations. If the ECG machine readings indicate that a patient has AF, their doctor is informed and they can discuss treatment options.
British experts hope that this will pave the way for a nationwide trial, which would hopefully prevent a number of avoidable strokes. Estimates suggest that AF is a contributing factor in around 20,000 strokes every year in the UK.