AI is increasingly used in the prevention, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of cardiovascular disease, but it also raises ethical concerns and some mistrust among patients and healthcare professionals. This rapid review analysed 145 papers to identify these concerns and the factors that build or undermine trust in AI, from the perspective of both patients and healthcare providers.
The review identified six main ethical concerns: privacy and data security (raised in 40.7% of papers), healthcare inequity (24.8%), risk of harm to patients, accountability, informed consent and loss of autonomy, and data ownership. On equity, the main concern was that AI trained on data that does not represent all patients may be less accurate for under-represented groups, such as racial and ethnic minorities, women and people on low incomes, which could widen existing gaps in health outcomes.
Barriers to trust included concerns about privacy, risk of harm, lack of transparency, fear that AI could replace the human side of care, and limited evidence on its accuracy and limitations. Factors that could increase trust included protecting and validating data, more diverse clinical trials, training and involving patients and professionals, and stronger regulatory oversight. The authors conclude that integrating AI into cardiovascular care will require stronger oversight of how patient data is used and greater transparency about how AI is used in care.
Learn more about this review here: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-024-02653-6
Reference:
Mooghali, M., Stroud, A.M., Yoo, D.W., Barry, B.A., Grimshaw, A.A., Ross, J.S., Zhu, X., & Miller, J.E. (2024). Trustworthy and ethical AI-enabled cardiovascular care: a rapid review. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 24, 247.