Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a significant health concern, known to contribute to substantial mortality and morbidity globally. Traditionally, physicians have relied on the CURB-65 score – which assesses confusion, blood urea nitrogen level, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and age over 65 – to predict mortality in CAP patients and make vital treatment decisions. However, the healthcare industry is increasingly embracing technological advancements, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning models, to enhance diagnostic accuracy and improve patient outcomes. These technologies offer the potential for greater precision and personalization in patient care, particularly for conditions like CAP, where early and accurate risk prediction can significantly impact survival rates.
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a significant global health concern, responsible for a high number of illnesses and deaths. Traditionally, doctors have used a scoring system called the CURB-65 to predict the chances of a patient dying from CAP. This system takes into account factors such as mental confusion, levels of a waste product called urea in the blood, breathing rate, blood pressure, and whether the patient is over 65 years old. However, there’s a growing trend in healthcare to use advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), to improve diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes. These technologies could provide more accurate and personalized care for patients, especially for conditions like CAP where early and accurate prediction of risk can make a big difference to survival rates.
In a recent breakthrough, a study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology found that a model based on deep learning – a type of artificial intelligence where computers learn to recognise patterns in data – can predict whether a patient with CAP will die within 30 days. The study found this deep learning model even outperformed the established CURB-65 score.
“The deep learning model could help doctors manage patients with CAP by pinpointing those who are at high risk and might need hospitalization and intensive treatment,” explained lead author Eui Jin Hwang, MD, PhD, from the department of radiology at Seoul National University College of Medicine in Korea.
During the study, the team trained the deep learning model using chest X-ray images from 7,105 patients treated at one hospital from March 2013 to December 2019. The goal was to predict which patients were at risk of dying within 30 days after a CAP diagnosis. Hwang and his team then tested their model on patients diagnosed with CAP during emergency department visits at the same hospital and two others from January 2020 to October 2021. They then compared the performance of the deep learning model with the CURB-65 score.
The deep learning model predicted 30-day mortality in patients with CAP with a performance measure, known as the area under the curve (AUC), ranging from 0.77 to 0.80 across different hospitals. This performance measure is a way of showing how well the model did; a score of 1 would be perfect prediction, and a score of 0.5 would be no better than chance. The model was also more specific than the CURB-65 score, meaning it was better at correctly identifying patients who would not die within 30 days.
This study highlights a major leap forward in the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare, especially for managing conditions like community-acquired pneumonia. The more accurate prediction provided by the deep learning model could help doctors make better treatment decisions, potentially saving lives. However, it’s important to remember that AI-based tools are not a replacement for human medical judgment and expertise, but a valuable tool that can enhance it. Future studies will be vital to further validate these results and explore how to integrate such models into everyday clinical practice, potentially ushering us into a new era of precision medicine.
