healthcare technology

Anticipating the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) when initiating antithrombotic treatment (oral antiplatelets or anticoagulants) is limited by existing risk prediction models. Machine learning algorithms may result in superior predictive models to aid in clinical decision-making.

 

Objective: To compare the performance of 3 machine learning approaches with the commonly used HAS-BLED (hypertension, abnormal kidney and liver function, stroke, bleeding, labile international normalized ratio, older age, and drug or alcohol use) risk score in predicting antithrombotic-related GIB.

 

Design, setting, and participants: This retrospective cross-sectional study used data from the OptumLabs Data Warehouse, which contains medical and pharmacy claims on privately insured patients and Medicare Advantage enrollees in the US. The study cohort included patients 18 years or older with a history of atrial fibrillation, ischemic heart disease, or venous thromboembolism who were prescribed oral anticoagulant and/or thienopyridine antiplatelet agents between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2019.

 

In this cross-sectional study, the machine learning models examined showed similar performance in identifying patients at high risk for GIB after being prescribed antithrombotic agents. Two models (RegCox and XGBoost) performed modestly better than the HAS-BLED score. A prospective evaluation of the RegCox model compared with HAS-BLED may provide a better understanding of the clinical impact of improved performance.

 

link to the original investigation paper https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2780274

 

read the pubmed article at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34019087/

 

Researchers at Duke University are developing an artificial intelligence tool for toilets that would help providers improve care management for patients with gastrointestinal issues through remote patient monitoring.

 

The tool, which can be installed in the pipes of a toilet and analyzes stool samples, has the potential to improve treatment of chronic gastrointestinal issues like inflammatory bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome, according to a press release.

 

When a patient flushes the toilet, the mHealth platform photographs the stool as it moves through the pipes. That data is sent to a gastroenterologist, who can analyze the data for evidence of chronic issues.

 

A study conducted by Duke University researchers found that the platform had an 85.1 percent accuracy rate on stool form classification and a 76.3 percent accuracy rate on detection of gross blood.

 

read the entire article at https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/ai-toilet-tool-offers-remote-patient-monitoring-for-gastrointestinal-health