Latest news with #heartproblems
Zawya
4 days ago
- Health
- Zawya
AI-ECG tools can help clinicians identify heart issues early in women planning to have children
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Every year, some mothers die after giving birth due to heart problems, and many of these deaths could be prevented. The ability to screen for heart weakness before pregnancy could play a crucial role in identifying women who may need additional care to improve pregnancy outcomes. Mayo Clinic researchers, led by Anja Kinaszczuk, D.O., and Demilade Adedinsewo, M.B., Ch.B., tested artificial intelligence (AI) tools, using recordings from an electrocardiogram (ECG) and a digital stethoscope, to find unknown heart problems in women of childbearing age seen in primary care. Study findings published in the Annals of Family Medicine show high diagnostic performance of these technologies to detect left ventricular ejection fraction below 50%, indicating heart muscle weakness. These tools were tested on two groups of women aged 18 to 49: Group 1: 100 women already scheduled for an echocardiogram (the best test to evaluate heart muscle function). They also had a standard clinical ECG and digital stethoscope recording of the heart's electrical activity and heart sounds. Group 2: 100 women seen for routine primary care visits to see how often the AI tools would find heart problems. The AI-ECG demonstrated an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.94, while the AI digital stethoscope, Eko DUO, achieved an even higher AUC of 0.98, indicating strong diagnostic accuracy. In the second cohort, the prevalence of positive AI screening results was 1% for the AI-ECG and 3.2% for the AI-stethoscope. "Statistically, nearly half of pregnancies in this country are unplanned, and approximately 1% to 2% of women may have heart problems they don't know about. Our research findings suggest that these AI tools could be used to screen women before pregnancy, allowing for improved pregnancy planning and risk stratification, early treatment, and better health outcomes which addresses a critical gap in current maternal care," says Dr. Adedinsewo, a cardiologist and senior author of the study. This research builds upon earlier published studies, including a pilot prospective study evaluating AI digital tools to detect pregnancy-related cardiomyopathy among obstetric patients in the U.S. and a pragmatic randomized clinical trial of women in Nigeria who were pregnant or had recently given birth. Collectively, this research highlights the potential of AI to modernize cardiovascular screening, enabling earlier identification and management of heart muscle weakness in women of reproductive age. Further research is underway to explore the potential of using these technologies to screen for heart weakness in broader populations. Mayo Clinic has licensed the underlying technology to Eko Health for its digital stethoscope with embedded ECG electrodes and to Anumana for the 12-lead ECG. Mayo Clinic and some study authors have a financial interest in this technology. Mayo Clinic will use any revenue it receives to support its not-for-profit mission in patient care, education and research.
CNA
21-05-2025
- Health
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - Give your heart a break – More younger people with heart problems in Singapore
CNA938 Rewind Play Some Singapore doctors are seeing more younger people coming in with heart problems that could lead to more serious conditions later in life. This, as the number of heart attacks continues to rise. According to a national registry, it now stands at more than 12,000 a year, compared to about 8,000 a decade ago. Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman examine this worrying trend with Dr Derek Koh, Chief Physician & Head of Lifescan Medical & Wellness CNA938 Rewind - It's no monkey business! Spate of cases involving monkeys entering homes Between Sept 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, the National Parks Board (NParks) received around 200 reports relating to macaques in Punggol. The authorities have responded to a spate of cases involving wild monkeys entering flats in Punggol by culling some, sterilising others and conducting exercises to herd the animals back into nature areas. How concerning is this monkey business? Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman find out from Kalaivanan Balakrishnan, Chief Executive, Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) 13 mins CNA938 Rewind - Give your heart a break – More younger people with heart problems in Singapore Some Singapore doctors are seeing more younger people coming in with heart problems that could lead to more serious conditions later in life. This, as the number of heart attacks continues to rise. According to a national registry, it now stands at more than 12,000 a year, compared to about 8,000 a decade ago. Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman examine this worrying trend with Dr Derek Koh, Chief Physician & Head of Lifescan Medical & Wellness 16 mins CNA938 Rewind - Does China's latest economic data show the impact of the tariff war? China's economy mostly remained resilient in April, but came in below estimates as the country reels from a persistent property and consumption crises, and faces tariff tensions with the US -- prompting authorities to cut benchmark lending rates. Andrea Heng and Hairianto Diman crunch the data and analyse what's next for Chinese officials with Betty Wang, Lead Economist, Northeast Asia, Oxford Economics 10 mins
