Scottish data scientists and clinical researchers are working with high street opticians to develop a digital tool using AI that can predict a person’s risk of dementia from a routine eye test.

The NeurEYE research team, led by the University of Edinburgh along with Glasgow Caledonian University, has collected almost a million eye scans from opticians across Scotland, forming the world’s largest data set of its kind.

The team will use this health data to find patterns that could indicate a person’s risk of developing dementia, as well as giving a broad picture of brain health.

To do so, the scientists will use AI and machine learning to analyse the image data, linked to anonymised patient data on demographics, treatment history and pre-existing conditions.

It’s hoped that optometrists will be able to use the software as a predictive or diagnostic tool for conditions such as Alzheimer’s, 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.

The researchers said that identifying people at risk of dementia could also accelerate the development of new treatments by finding those who are more likely to benefit from trials, enabling better monitoring of treatment responses. 

Professor of Computational Medicine at the Usher Institute and NeurEYE co-lead Miguel Bernabeu said: “Recent advances in artificial intelligence promise to revolutionise medical image interpretation and disease prediction.  

“This dataset, along with decades-long research at University of Edinburgh into ethical AI, can bring a step change in early detection of dementia for all. ”

The project is the second pathfinder funded and supported by NEURii, a global collaboration between the pharmaceutical company Eisai, Gates Ventures, the University of Edinburgh, the medical research charity LifeArc, and the national health data science organisation Health Data Research UK.

The first NEURii project, SCAN-DAN, is also working to predict the risk of dementia, with researchers using brain scans from the entire Scottish population to build a software tool that they hope will be able to predict a person’s risk of the disease. 

According to the team, such innovative digital healthcare projects could pave the way for real world solutions benefiting millions of patients around the world diagnosed with neurodegenerative conditions and easing pressures on national healthcare institutions.

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“Harnessing the potential of digital innovations in this way could ultimately save the NHS more than £37m a year because the hope is that it will speed up the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative conditions like dementia,” said Dr Dave Powell, chief scientific officer at LifeArc, one of the NEURii collaborators.

“The UK, with its single healthcare provider, is also well placed to become a global leader in the development of new tests that use health data. This is why we are collaborating to advance promising digital health projects that have the potential to improve millions of lives.”

The potential for coupling sensitive health care data with new technology is being recognised across the UK. Recent research from the Health Foundation found that the majority of the public support sharing some of their personal health data for the development of artificial intelligence systems in the NHS, including data around their eye health, medication, and long-term illnesses.