Using machine learning to improve the detection of frailty
Description: Frailty is a state of vulnerability that significantly impacts individual and public health outcomes. In fact, it is prevalent in almost half of Canadians over the age of 85. My doctoral thesis includes four projects that enhance our understanding of frailty through machine learning, a type of analysis used to identify patterns within large datasets. The first project is a scoping review of machine learning applications within frailty research, cataloguing current methodologies and identifying gaps in knowledge that future work could address. This provides a comprehensive overview of the intersection between technology and geriatric medicine. The second project uses machine learning approaches to improve how we measure frailty in populations living with cardiovascular disease. By examining individual health deficits with aggregate scores, this project proposes a more nuanced method of predicting patient frailty levels. The third project explores the association between biomarkers derived from heart imaging with frailty, particularly in the context of emergency cardiovascular care. By leveraging these algorithms, we can identify biomarkers that may be important in early frailty detection. This can enable timely and individualized frailty interventions. The final project uses unsupervised machine learning techniques to identify patient subgroups within cardiac rehabilitation settings and assess their rehabilitation outcomes. By understanding the newly discovered subgroups, we can better create targeted interventions to support people to succeed in rehabilitation. Together, my doctoral research will highlight the potential of machine learning to improve our understanding of frailty. Through this research, I am actively leveraging machine learning to enhance our ability to detect and manage frailty, ultimately contributing to better health management and outcomes for our aging population.
Amount: CA$992
Funding type: fellowship
Funder scheme: Summer Program in Aging
Start date: 2024-03-01
End date: 2025-02-28
Investigator: Hoang Quach
Institution: Dalhousie University (Nova Scotia)
Topic: Frailty in Older Adults
Subfield: Geriatrics and Gerontology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Funded outputs count: 0
Funder award ID: 192971_1
OpenAlex ID: G4483631362