As life expectancy increases,frailty is a major issue in relation to the aging population. It is estimated that approximately one in four older adults are at risk of becoming frail, leading to declining health and loss of independence. By teaming up with physicians and a local AI company, AltaML, the new project aims to mitigate frailty by enabling healthcare teams to proactively identify patients who could benefit from additional support.
The process used a number of experts, including Uli Brödl, MD, Vice President, Medical and Regulatory Affairs, Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada) Ltd., who can discuss the importance of artificial intelligence in identifying frailty, and the potential impact of this project in communities across Canada; and Cory Janssen, Chief Executive Officer, AltaML, who can provide more details on the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in this project.
As well as increased levels of frailty, other challenges that elderly people face include a greater risk for declining health, higher health care utilization, and loss of independence.
The aim of the new project is to produce a new tool that can direct ways by which front-line providers can identify patients earlier so that appropriate patient-centred interventions can be provided, serving to support healthy aging of senior members of society.
The project involves the application of machine learning algorithms which will analyse different data sets. In time the artificial intelligence will learn how to interpret the patterns as predictions. This enables patients to be given individualized care and appropriate interventions, including things like fall prevention, assessing appropriate medication, or seeking social service interventions. These are the types of activities that can help address issues of frailty linked to aging.
