Study finds ChatGPT shows promise as medication management tool, could help improve geriatric health care

Polypharmacy, or the concurrent usage of 5 or more medications, prevails in older grownups and increases the danger of negative drug interactions. While deprescribing unneeded drugs can fight this threat, the decision-making procedure can be complicated and lengthy. Progressively, there is a requirement for efficient polypharmacy management tools that can support short-staffed medical care specialists.

In a brand-new research study, scientists from the Mass General Brigham MESH Incubator discovered that ChatGPT, a generative expert system (AI) chatbot, revealed pledge as a tool to handle polypharmacy and deprescription. These findings, released in the Journal of Medical Systemsshow the very first usage case of AI designs in medication management.

To examine its energy, the detectives offered ChatGPT with various scientific situations and asked it a set of decision-making concerns. Each situation included the exact same senior client taking a mix of medications however consisted of variations in heart disease history (CVD) and degree of problems in activities of day-to-day living (ADL).

When asked yes or no concerns about minimizing recommended drugs, ChatGPT regularly advised deprescribing medications in clients without a history of CVD. It was more careful when overlying CVD was presented, and more most likely to keep the client’s medication routine the same. In both cases, the scientists observed that ADL disability intensity did not appear to impact choice results.

The group likewise kept in mind that ChatGPT tended to neglect discomfort and preferred deprescribing discomfort medications over other drug types like statins or antihypertensives. In addition, ChatGPT actions differed when provided with the exact same circumstance in brand-new chat sessions– which the authors recommend might show disparity in frequently reported scientific deprescribing patterns on which the design was trained.

More than 40% of older grownups satisfy the requirements for polypharmacy. The rate of senior citizens on Medicare seeing more experts on their care groups has actually increased over the last few years, leaving medical care service providers to supervise medication management. An efficient AI tool might assist this practice, according to the scientists.

“Our research study supplies the very first usage case of ChatGPT as a scientific assistance tool for medication management,” stated senior matching author Marc Succi, MD, Associate Chair of Innovation and Commercialization at Mass General Brigham Radiology and Executive Director of the MESH Incubator.

“While care ought to be required to increase precision of such designs, AI-assisted polypharmacy management might assist ease the increasing concern on family doctors. More research study with particularly trained AI tools might considerably boost the care of aging clients.”

Arya Rao, lead author, MESH scientist and Harvard Medical trainee, included, “Our findings recommend that AI-based tools can play a crucial function in guaranteeing safe medication practices for older grownups; it is necessary that we continue to improve these tools to represent the intricacies of medical decision-making.”

More details:
Proactive Polypharmacy Management Using Large Language Models: Opportunities to Enhance Geriatric Care, Journal of Medical Systems (2024 ). DOI: 10.1007/ s10916-024-02058-y