Research Tip Sheet: AI and Heart Failure Plus Recent Headlines
The Latest Advances From Cedars-Sinai Investigators
AI May Reduce Hospitalizations for Heart Failure Patients
An artificial intelligence (AI) program created by Cedars-Sinai may reduce hospitalizations in people diagnosed with heart failure, a new study reports.
The study, published in JACC: Heart Failure, included 50 people who had been diagnosed with a condition called heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, in which the heart’s main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, becomes too weak to circulate blood throughout the body.
For three months, patients used a smartphone app to transmit home blood pressure readings to their cardiologists. The blood pressure readings were analyzed by an AI program that generated prescribing recommendations to the cardiologists, such as whether a new drug should be added or a dosage changed. The software, named HF-AI (for heart failure AI) was trained using data from Cedars-Sinai patients with heart failure between 2020 to 2022 and incorporates national and international heart failure guidelines.
Cardiologists accepted HF-AI medication and dose recommendations 90.8% of the time. This meant they more than doubled their use of guideline-directed heart failure medications. The program also dramatically decreased hospitalizations. Among the 50 enrolled patients, 23 were hospitalized in the six months before enrolling in the trial. In the six months after the intervention, only six were hospitalized, a 74% reduction.
Investigators plan to use and study the program with more Cedars-Sinai patients.
“People with heart failure are among our most fragile patients, with extremely high risk of hospitalization and death,” said first author and co-inventor Raj Khandwalla, MD, division chief of Cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Group and director of Digital Therapeutics at the Smidt Heart Institute. “By translating home blood pressure data into treatment advice, HF-AI lets us fine-tune medications sooner and keep more patients out of the hospital.”
This study was funded by Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures.
“This research is a testament to the mission of Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures to invest in innovative technology and improve clinical outcomes for patients,” said James Laur, JD, chief intellectual property officer for Technology Ventures.
Other Cedars-Sinai authors of the study include Alex Shvartser, MS; Raymond J. Zimmer, MD; Merije Chukumerije, MD; Michael Share, MD; Ronit Zadikany, MD; Michael Farkouh, MD; Yaron Elad, MD; and Michelle Maya Kittleson, MD, PHD.
Gregg Fonarow, MD, of UCLA Medical Center also authored the study.
Declaration of interests: The paper describes software that is the subject of U.S. Provisional Patent Application number 63/314,207, filed by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on February 25, 2022. Dr. Fonarow has done consulting for Abbott, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Eli Lilly, Johnson and Johnson, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, and Pfizer. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.
In Case You Missed It
Recent headlines from the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom
- Few Women Participate in Studies for Common Cardiac Conditions
- ‘Young’ Immune Cells Could Treat Alzheimer’s, Aging Symptoms
- Cedars-Sinai Pioneering Creation of Organoids in Space
Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University is advancing groundbreaking research and educating future leaders in medicine, biomedical sciences and allied health sciences. Learn more about the university.