Microsoft India and Apollo Hospitals Group have set up a National Clinical Coordination Committee (NCCC) in India for the AI-powered Cardiovascular Disease Risk Score API.
Founded in 1983, Apollo Hospitals was India’s first corporate hospital and is now one of Asia’s foremost integrated healthcare group with over 71 hospitals and a network of pharmacies, primary care clinics, diagnostic centers, telemedicine centers, as well as medical education centers and a research foundation.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the biggest cause of mortality in India with nearly 25 percent of mortalities – amongst the age group of 25 to 69 years. The condition also seems to affect Indians at least a decade earlier as compared to Europeans.
Given the high prevalence, the first-ever AI-powered CVD Risk Score API was launched in 2018 designed specifically to predict the risk of CVDs in the Indian population. Till date, over 20,000 people have already been screened using the API and in many cases, physicians have been able to predict the risk score of patients 5 to 7 years in advance.
As part of Microsoft’s AI Network for Healthcare initiative and built on Microsoft Azure, the API aims to determine a more accurate CVD risk score for the Indian population taking into consideration risk factors including lifestyle attributes like diet, tobacco & smoking preferences, physical activity, and psychological stress & anxiety.
Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director at Apollo Hospitals Group believes that the NCCC will immensely help in the fight against the rising tsunami of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). The NCCC will be assisting the core team at Apollo Hospitals and Microsoft by providing guidance on all cardiology and cardiovascular-related AI projects as well as clinical insights for developing clinical algorithm and treatment guidelines.
Apollo Hospitals and Microsoft India are already in discussions with renowned health systems across the world to scale the API and contribute towards World Health Organization’s goal of reducing the risk of premature mortality from NCDs, including CVDs, by 25% by 2025.
