Those with Alzheimer’s disease struggle with cognitive declines such as memory loss, difficulties with speaking and writing, and problems with recognition and spatial awareness. Primarily, it affects the brain, causing significant behavioral and personality changes. Equally, Alzheimer’s is a progressive illness, meaning its symptoms worsen over time. With no cure available, those with the illness manage their symptoms with medication, support groups, and even lifestyle changes. Artificial intelligence (AI) gained its high esteem to combat Alzheimer’s by helping doctors detect the disease early. Even more, AI tools can facilitate easier diagnoses, providing doctors and patients with more treatment options that weren’t originally available. Likewise, patients can use AI for accessible cognitive assessments through remote screening and receive personalized treatment plans based on AI’s predictions of the disease’s progression. Lastly, healthcare providers can help specific patients who may need intensive monitoring and adjusted predictive models and more efficient treatment strategies.
New Discovery by Boston University Researchers
In their latest study, Researchers at Boston University predicted with near 80% accuracy if someone was at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. In particular, the AI tool analyzed each participant’s speech patterns for any signs of cognitive declines. During hour-long interviews with each participant about their cognitive abilities, researchers gathered data to make their predictions. Following the study, 90 participants experienced worsening cognitive declines, while 76 remained unaffected. Overall, the researchers tested 166 individuals’ cognitive functions over six years using a diagnostic tool designed to process natural language. The group consisted of 59 men and 107 women, aged between 63 and 97, all of whom had some level of cognitive issues. The researchers discovered connections between speech patterns and cognitive decline using speech-recognition tools and machine learning to track these links through biomarkers associated with cognitive decline. Despite the small sample size, the model predicted significant cognitive decline with 78.5% accuracy.
Promising Results of AI’s High Prediction Accuracy
The study’s high prediction accuracy is promising for future research, as Melissa Lee from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), praised the diagnostic tool. Moreover, she suggested that using a larger dataset, like ADDF’s SpeechDx, could yield more accurate results. In addition to Alzheimer’s disease, around 70% of the 55 million people with the disease would develop dementia, which affects brain cells due to toxic build-up from amyloid and tau proteins interfering with communication pathways.
AI Solves Other Problems Associated with Alzheimer’s
Currently, mental health professionals believe that treatments are most effective when medications are prescribed early. Despite amyloid being linked to cognitive decline, it doesn’t automatically make someone susceptible to the disease. Ultimately, the new AI model can provide better predictions, allowing people to know if they’re susceptible before symptoms appear. This early knowledge enables them to seek help sooner and take drugs targeting amyloid or other risk factors for developing Alzheimer’s later in life.