Alzheimer’s disease is known for causing cognitive declines such as memory loss, trouble speaking and writing, and trouble with recognition and spatial awareness. Since the brain is impacted, a person who has the illness may experience significant personality and behavioral changes as well.
Moreover, Alzheimer’s is a progressive illness which means its symptoms usually grow in severity over time. In light of not having a cure, people with the illness and their caregivers must rely on medication, support groups, and significant lifestyle changes as treatment methods.
Can AI Help Fight Against Alzheimer’s Disease?
It seems that artificial intelligence (AI) may help in the fight against the disease as it can help doctors detect the disease early. Besides providing an easy diagnosis, the tool also gives doctors and their patients more potential options than what’s currently available.
Not only that but patients can use the AI tool for accessible cognitive access through remote screening. It offers personalized treatment plans based on its predictions of the disease’s trajectory. In addition to doctors and patients, healthcare providers can prioritize those who may need intensive monitoring and resources, while also adjusting predictive models and treatment strategies.
Boston University Researchers’ Latest Discovery
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After conducting the Framingham Heart Study, researchers at Boston University were able to predict if someone was at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease with around 80% accuracy. To make these good predictions, the researchers used artificial intelligence to study speech patterns for any cognitive declines.
Ultimately, the researchers conducted hour-long interviews with each participant about their cognitive abilities. Using their AI tool, the researchers could analyze data gathered from the interviews to uncover their recent findings and better predict the disease’s development. Following their study, 90 people went on to suffer progressive cognitive declines while the remaining 76 people remained unaffected.
Who Were the Test Subjects?
Using their cleverly designed diagnostic tool to process natural languages, the researchers tested 166 peoples’ cognitive functions for six years. Of the 166 chosen people, 59 men and 107 women were the focus group. What’s more? These individuals were between 63 and 97 years old and all had some level of cognitive issues.
Furthermore, the Boston University researchers could see connections between someone’s speech patterns and their cognitive decline. Moreover, this discovery was made by using speech-recognition tools with machine learning to track these connections by focusing on biomarkers linked with cognitive decline. Although the model they developed had a small sample size, it predicted with 78.5% accuracy any significant cognitive decline.
Promising Results of AI’s High Prediction Accuracy
Regarding the AI’s high accuracy of correct predictions, the researchers’ study has shown promising results for future research. Specifically, Melissa Lee who works for the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) has even shown praise for the newly developed diagnostic tool. In fact, she theorized that the research has the potential to grow if it used a larger data set similar to ADDF’s SpeechDx and may give more accurate readings.
Alongside Alzheimer’s disease, 70% of the approximately 55 million people who have the illness would develop dementia as well. Primarily, dementia is known for affecting brain cells with toxic build-up due to two main proteins in amyloid and tau, as they’re thought to interfere with brain cells’ ability to communicate with each other.
AI Solves Other Problems Associated With Alzheimer’s
Currently, treatment against the disease works best for people who are prescribed medications as soon as they get a diagnosis. Although doctors can see a link between amyloid and cognitive decline, it doesn’t mean that the protein automatically gives someone the disease. So, with their new model, researchers can provide even better predictions.
Undoubtedly, giving people the ability to know if their susceptible to the disease before they have it allows them to seek help much quicker. More importantly, people with Alzheimer’s can take drugs that target either the amyloid itself or other factors that may increase the risk of development later in life.
This article is intended simply to provide information. It is not intended to replace advice from a physician. Please speak to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns.
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