University of Exeter researchers used machine learning techniques to analyse data from more than 15,000 patients in the US.
The technique works by spotting hidden patterns in the data and learning who is most at risk. The study also suggested that the algorithm could help reduce the number of people who may have been falsely diagnosed with dementia.
The researchers analysed data from people who attended a network of 30 National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Centre memory clinics in the US. The attendees did not have dementia at the start of the study, though many were experiencing problems with memory or other brain functions.
In the study timeframe between 2005 and 2015, one in ten attendees (1,568) received a new diagnosis of dementia within two years of visiting the memory clinic.
The research found that the machine learning model could predict these new dementia cases with up to 92 per cent accuracy – and far more accurately than two existing alternative...