Hospitals trial AI to spot type 2 diabetes risk

Giving the AI extra details about other background risk factors, such as the patients age, sex and whether they already have high blood pressure and or are overweight, can improve the predictive power, says lead researcher Dr Fu Siong Ng.

He told BBC News: “It is already quite good just with the ECG data, but it is even better when you add in those.”

An ECG (electrocardiogram) records and can reveal problems with the electrical activity of the heart, including the rate and rhythm.

Dr Fu says the ECG changes that the system detects are too varied and subtle for even highly skilled doctors to interpret with the naked eye.

“It’s not as simple as saying it’s this or that bit of the ECG. It’s looking at a combination of subtle things.”

As part of the trial up to 1,000 patients at both hospitals will have ECG scans read by the AI system to see if it helps detect and predict disease.

It’s not something that will be offered to routinely yet, although the experts hope it could be rolled out more widely on the NHS. That could take five years or more, says Dr Fu.