Indian hospital chain Apollo Hospitals Group is integrating its latest AI tool for predicting a patient's cardiovascular disease risk with the digital health solutions of Singaporean health tech provider ConnectedLife.

In September last year, Apollo Hospitals introduced its AI CVD tool, which provides a risk score that takes into account a patient's lifestyle attributes, respiratory rate and blood pressure reading.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

Through this collaboration, Apollo's AI tool will be made available to users of the ConnectedLife with Fitbit platform, providing the technology with near real-time, continuous, longitudinal wellness and health data. 

This integration will enable doctors to design and provide patients with a personalised care plan while digitally monitoring patients' compliance and objectively measuring the progression and improvement of their health vitals. 

According to ConnectedLife, Apollo's AI CVD tool will be automatically available to its partner healthcare providers where it is currently deploying its digital wellness solutions. One of them is the National University Hospital System's Alexandra Hospital in Singapore, which is currently preparing to adopt the AI tool via ConnectedLife.

WHY IT MATTERS

India accounted for a fifth of the total 17.7 million CVD-related deaths worldwide in 2016, according to the World Health Organization. Based on a Global Burden of Disease study, for every 100,000 Indian people, about 272 individuals die from CVDs, higher compared to the global average of 235.

"While early diagnosis and intervention can make a positive impact, doctors do not have the tools handy to evaluate the risk of their patients developing heart disease," Dr Prathap C. Reddy, chairman of Apollo Hospitals Group, stressed in a statement.

The organisation sees Apollo's AI CVD tool as enabling doctors to deliver "proactive, pre-emptive and preventive care for at-risk individuals, improving lives while mitigating future risks to life and lessen the pressure on healthcare systems".

THE LARGER TREND

Recently, ConnectedLife collaborated with Google Cloud and Bio Farma, an Indonesian state-owned pharmaceutical enterprise, to support the Indonesian government's latest digital health initiative using the ConnectedLife with Fitbit app.

The Fitbit-connected digital wellness app is also being used across Manipal Hospitals in India for remote monitoring of patients after surgery. 

ON THE RECORD

"The collaboration with ConnectedLife amalgamates AI/ML with user-friendly and reliable risk prediction tools that provide insights for early action," said Dr Sangita Reddy, joint managing director of Apollo Hospitals Group.

"This is just the beginning and we will expand the collaboration to other NCDs to prevent and reduce the NCD disease burden. We look forward to growing the collaboration with more tools to make a significant impact to stem the rise of NCDs globally," she added.