AI AND HEALTHY AGEING

By Ryhaan Shah

AI (artificial intelligence) is a hot topic in global news, with some doomsday predictions that could be considered science fiction. However, without proper regulations and control, could this doomsday scenario become our reality? And in our lifetime? Let us hope not.
AI must be carefully regulated to complement and help rather than replace human medical expertise. Used responsibly, AI-driven tools can improve patient care and promote ageing-in-place with smart home devices and voice assistants that can track our routines and remind us to take our medication and help us to live independently.
Longer life expectancy and declining birth rates worldwide are dramatically altering the global population landscape, and it is expected that by 2050 the number of people aged 60 and older will double from 11 to 22 per cent. This is reshaping the age structure of societies worldwide and presents challenges for healthcare systems.
It is actually redefining what it means to grow old in the 21st century. Already, healthcare systems find that more older adults are living with at least one chronic illness and that nearly 80 per cent have two or more medical issues.
The most prevalent conditions are hearing and vision loss and osteoarthritis, along with illnesses like diabetes, depression and dementia. The rising demand for long-term care, both medical and personal home care, underlines the need for innovative healthcare solutions that will support healthy ageing and improve medical care.
Already, health care programmes are beginning to use AI as critical tools to support such care by detecting disease early, improving diagnostics and healthcare, and ultimately helping us seniors to maintain our independence and quality of life for as long as possible.
It is good to note that healthy ageing is not seen as an absence of disease but as our ability to live well with social participation and our quality of life taken into account. From this viewpoint, AI can help to strengthen and support our independence.
The ageing process differs from person to person, with no two people of the same age presenting with exact or similar medical issues, and this is where AI can make a significant difference. AI models can identify early signs of vulnerability to illnesses before there are obvious symptoms. They can do this by integrating our individual medical information, including laboratory results, clinical data like our temperature and blood pressure and other medical records and assessments, to produce an analysis to help with a quick diagnosis that will enable prompt treatment.
Nutrition is another area where AI can have a practical impact. Many of us as we age are vulnerable to malnutrition and even have inappropriate diets. AI can assess the data such as the foods we eat and prefer, our weight, medications, and our behaviour patterns to provide a personalised nutrition plan that will help us improve our health and reduce our risk of disease.
Similar technology can be used to help prevent falls, one of the most common injuries among the elderly. Wearable sensors and smartphones can provide continuous information about our balance, activity levels and our sleep, which AI can use to detect any level of decline in movement or any risk of falling.
Mental health is another area where AI analyses of speech patterns, sleep, and our mobility can provide early detection of cognitive impairment or dementia-related changes. Early assessment will help with timely intervention and planning for care-giving support.
These are all areas where AI models can be used to support better outcomes for healthy ageing, but they would have to be established within a good medical and public health framework. That could become possible here in Guyana, where AI could help connect the various areas of ageing, such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, mental health, social relationships and our home environment, to provide good early risk assessment for disease and their prevention.
This would require healthcare policies, infrastructure, and the professional training needed to ensure that our medical systems are equipped to manage the AI tools and respond to the evolving needs of an ageing population.
There is no magic solution to ageing, and AI, while it can improve diagnostic efficiency, is only an enabling tool. Its value lies in the input data and would still need the human intelligence and medical ethics required to guide and control its use.
Developed and used responsibly, AI can help to move healthy ageing from being mostly reactive, which means treating a disease after it appears, to being more proactive, which can make prevention personal and tailored to individual needs. This could mean everyone living a longer and healthier life.