Published 18 June 2024 at 15.39
Domestic. Soon, it may be enough to scan the face to measure pulse, breathing and blood pressure. AI technology can become a future aid to quickly assess the severity of acute infection and other conditions, shows a thesis at the University of Gothenburg.
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An infection severity is assessed based on what are called vital parameters, i.e. the most important signs of a person's physical condition. Today, vital parameters are measured with several different instruments.
However, a newly developed method that combines camera technology, software and artificial intelligence, AI, has the potential to produce equivalent results by scanning the patient's face for 30 seconds.
In the current thesis, the camera-based method was clinically tested on just over 200 patients with suspected covid-19, and it proved to be able to improve the assessment of severity, and diagnostics.
The technology contributed data on the patients' heart rate, oxygen saturation, breathing rate and blood pressure. The results are described as promising, but need to be further validated in terms of, for example, measurement accuracy.
The author of the thesis is Stefan Malmberg, doctorate at the Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, and specialist in general medicine at Hälsobrunnen Vårdcentral in Ulricehamn .
– With the new AI method, the measurements are faster, more convenient for the patient, easier for the healthcare system and with less risk of infection spreading via measuring equipment. This type of research is crucial for the development of new technology for healthcare, he states in a dispatch.
People who seek a doctor at a health center for sore throats, coughs and fevers constitute a large patient group. In many cases, the infections are self-healing and harmless, but there are also serious and potentially life-threatening conditions that can start with similar symptoms, such as pneumonia, covid-19 and Lemierre's syndrome.
It is therefore important to be able to quickly assess severity, if necessary offer effective treatment, but do not prescribe antibiotics unnecessarily. Excessive antibiotic use promotes resistant strains of bacteria, making drugs less effective or even ineffective.
– It is important to find the needle in the haystack when it comes to infectious diseases. Most people do not benefit from antibiotics, but in the case of serious infections it can be life-changing with the right treatment in time, says Stefan Malmberg.