AI-powered technologies that can detect heart disease through selfies are being sought by medical experts.

Chinese medicine experts have been cooperating with computer scientists to create AI-powered technologies that can detect coronary artery disease through facial images.

In recent years, applications driven by artificial intelligence have been used in daily clinical practice like interpreting medical images, analysing electrocardiograms and tracking vital signs.

In the latest study, Chinese researchers explored the possibility of using AI to screen coronary artery disease via facial images.

Facial appearance has long been identified as an indicator of cardiovascular risk.

Features such as male pattern baldness, earlobe creases, xanthelasmata (yellowish deposit of fat around or on the eyelids) and skin wrinkling are the most common predictors.

Researchers from the National Centre for Cardiovascular Diseases and Tsinghua University first enrolled 5,796 Chinese patients for the study.

An AI algorithm was then tested on facial images of 1,013 other patients across nine hospitals.

According to the results published in the European Heart Journal, the algorithm had a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 54%, outperforming the usual prediction model of coronary artery disease.

Sensitivity refers to an algorithm’s ability to designate a patient with a disease as positive, while specificity is the test’s ability to designate a patient without disease as negative.

The researchers said further studies are needed to make a practical application, as the current low specificity of the algorithm raises a concern of false-positives.

Overall, the results suggested that a deep learning algorithm can assist coronary artery disease detection, holding promise for pre-test screening of the disease in communities.