A Promising Tool: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Respiratory Care

The prevalence of respiratory disease is a big concern for doctors. In developed nations, 10–11% of the population will be affected by issues ranging from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), asthma, pneumonia, lung cancer, and the emerging long COVID-19. Many of these issues are caused or exacerbated by our modern world: pollution, mold, chemicals, and smoking. Many are life-long problems that people must learn to manage without remission. However, times are changing. Artificial intelligence or AI offers new solutions to old and emerging problems, with technology to monitor COPD, identify at-risk patients, alert doctors of inpatient risk, and much, much more.

Why Respiratory Care is a Big Deal In Healthcare

That 10–11% rate of respiratory disease has not changed since the first report in 1990. That means the issue is not going anywhere soon; it also means declining smoking rates and improved living standards make little difference.

For Asthmatics and those suffering from COPD, lung function tests are a fact of life. In hospitals, monitoring systems like pulse oximetry carefully check a patient’s blood oxygen every second. AI can collect data, analyze it, and create algorithms to warn doctors when a real issue is on the horizon. New AI systems and tools could make a huge difference in the lives of thousands.

Asthma and COPD

The leading causes of respiratory disease are COPD and asthma, which both affect the bronchioles — a small subdivision of the many tubes that make up a lung segment. During an asthma attack, the muscles surrounding these bronchioles constrict, and the airway lining becomes inflamed and swollen. This causes the airways to narrow, making breathing more difficult.

You have likely seen a friend or family member reach for an inhaler during one of these attacks. These small devices deliver medicine directly to the lungs to relax airway muscles and reduce inflammation. Common medications include albuterol, which opens airways by relaxing muscles, and corticosteroids, which reduce swelling and irritation. This helps make breathing easier during an asthma attack or keeps symptoms under control long-term.

COPD is a progressive disease that affects many in a similar way to asthma, but instead of attacks, the symptoms can stick around all of the time. It is caused by damage to the bronchioles and alveoli, where gas is exchanged between the air and blood. This can cause chronic inflammation, leading to mucus, coughing, and wheezing. There are a range of treatments used to manage COPD, but cures are rare.

Using AI in Respiratory Healthcare

Diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases make up a large proportion of any medical team’s work, and using AI can significantly improve the process, making it more accurate and time-effective. Deep learning algorithms have the power to analyze medical images like X-rays and CT scans with incredible accuracy, often matching or outperforming human radiologists. This accelerates diagnosis to allow for earlier interventions in conditions such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, and COVID-19.

Predictive analytics has shown that AI outshines in processing electronic health records and highlighting risk factors or the onset of some respiratory diseases. With enough health records, AI can more accurately differentiate asthma from COPD than doctors. This provides invaluable help to ever-busy clinicians in formulating good treatment plans. Real-time wearable-based monitors have the power to massively increase the data AI has at hand and detect respiratory abnormalities early, alerting health providers to take action against them before the patient’s conditions worsen.

Neurolinguistic programming, or NLP, is an important AI feature that parses clinical notes and patient histories for critical insights that help build a comprehensive patient profile with incredible accuracy. Artificial intelligence also enhances telemedicine because it aids doctors in making the proper analysis of symptoms and making an informed decision during virtual consultations.

Working Alongside AI

Although AI will take on a large role in data analysis, especially early detection and diagnostics, healthcare is a human field, one that accounts for 22 million jobs in the US. These are jobs that AI can help rather than threaten, as many fear.

Healthcare professionals are the backbone of the sector. A sector that will always rely on everyone from doctors and nurses with the requisite qualifications from reputable institutions, like the Rockhurst University online ABSN program, to medical receptionists and other specialized healthcare professionals.

Case Studies and Early Adoption

These are tools that have already been used successfully in a range of scenarios. Like analyzing lung scans with high precision, enabling early detection of conditions like COPD and asthma. Mechanical ventilators became a household topic after their shortage during the pandemic; now, ventilator technology has begun to grow exponentially and incorporate AI to monitor and manage the complex data they need to run well.

Big Biotech companies are getting on board; a recent partnership between AstraZeneca and ArtiQ who are exploring the use of AI to enable patients to perform lung function tests like spirometry at home and send the data back to their healthcare provider or even warn the patient if the results are concerning.

The Bright Future of Respiratory Care

The prevalence of respiratory disease, especially in developed nations with strong healthcare systems, is a concern. Pollution, mold, chemicals, and America’s declining health all have the potential to exacerbate the problem further. Luckily, some of the brightest minds are working hard to solve the problem.

AI can be used to perform lung function tests at home and use the data better. It can be used to read medical images, help diagnose, monitor health in real time via wearable tech, and parse through years of health records. None of these innovations reinvent the wheel, but they do build on the computing power we have had for a while to exponentially improve accuracy and reliability.

As we move into the age of AI, anything is possible. Your future telehealth appointments could be with an AI-powered nurse, and your wearable tech could save your life. Respiratory care is just one element of healthcare, a massive field that relies on hard-working professionals to research, care, and improve the health of all.

Image credit: iStock.com/stefanamer