Data scientists and clinical researchers are working with high street opticians for the first time to develop a digital tool that can predict a person\u2019s risk of dementia from a routine eye test.<\/p>\n
The NeurEYE research team, led by the University of Edinburgh, with Glasgow Caledonian University, has collected almost a million eye scans from opticians across Scotland, forming the world\u2019s largest data set of its kind.<\/p>\n
The scientists will then use artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse the image data, along with relevant patient data on demographics, treatment history and pre-existing conditions. This data is anonymised and patients can\u2019t be identified, but it allows researchers to find patterns that could indicate a person\u2019s risk of developing dementia, as well as giving a broad picture of brain health.<\/p>\n
Permission to use the data comes from the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel for Health and Social Care, a part of NHS Scotland.<\/p>\n
The project is the second funded and supported by NEURii, a first-of-its-kind global collaboration between the pharmaceutical company Eisai, Gates Ventures, the University of Edinburgh, the medical research charity LifeArc and the national health data science institute Health Data Research UK. Together, the partners are giving innovative digital projects the chance to become real world solutions that could benefit millions of patients with neurodegenerative conditions like dementia. The first NEURii project, SCAN-DAN, is using brain scans and AI to predict dementia risk.<\/p>\n
Retired mechanical engineer, David Steele, 65, whose mum has Alzheimer\u2019s, said predictive software like this could have saved his family ten years of heartache and struggle. He said:\u201cIt took ten years for my mum to be diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was initially diagnosed with dry macular degeneration, but this masked the underlying issue that we now know to be cerebral blindness linked to Alzheimer\u2019s. The connection between brain and eye was the missing link in her case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe missing diagnosis meant that my late father, who was also elderly, cared for mum throughout a difficult period without knowing what was wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we had known, then we would have had help with the additional and demanding support that became necessary. Preventing the cliff edge, when it becomes too late for the person to understand what is wrong with them, is so important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the University of Edinburgh and NeurEYE co-lead, Baljean Dhillon, said: \u201cThe eye can tell us far more than we thought possible. The blood vessels and neural pathways of retina and brain are intimately related. But, unlike the brain, we can see the retina with the simple, inexpensive equipment found in every high street in the UK and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
Optometrists will be able to use the software subsequently developed as a predictive or diagnostic tool for conditions such as Alzheimer\u2019s, as a triage tool to refer patients to secondary health services if signs of brain disease are spotted, and potentially as a way to monitor cognitive decline.<\/p>\n
Identifying people at risk of dementia could also accelerate the development of new treatments by identifying those who are more likely to benefit from trials and enabling better monitoring of treatment responses.<\/p>\n