From racial bias in medicine to more affordable Alzheimer’s drugs, here are the health stories you may have missed this week from Yahoo News partners.
Biden warns that AI could ‘surpass human thinking’
In a keynote address at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday, President Biden said he has been warned by experts that artificial intelligence could “surpass human thought.” USA Today reported that this was the president’s most direct warning to date about the power of AI technology.
“It’s not going to be easy decisions, guys,” Biden said. “I met in the Oval Office with eight prominent scientists in the field of AI. Some are very concerned that AI could actually surpass human thinking and planning. So we have a lot to deal with. An incredible opportunity, but a lot [to] face.”
The president’s remarks come days after hundreds of AI leaders, as well as other public figures, issued a statement saying ‘mitigating AI’s extinction risk should be a global priority alongside other risks on social scale such as pandemics and nuclear war.
Last month, Biden met with CEOs of AI innovation companies, including Google, Microsoft and OpenAI, in an effort to ensure AI products are safe before they’re accessible to the public.
Lung problems in black men are underdiagnosed due to racial bias in tests, study says
A study released Thursday claims that 40 percent more black male patients would be diagnosed with respiratory problems such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or lung scarring due to exposure to air pollutants if current diagnostic assistance software was edited to eliminate racial bias, The Associated Press reports.
Based on data from more than 2,700 black men and 5,700 white men tested by the University of Pennsylvania Health System, researchers examined a commonly used test with a computer-generated ratio that rates a person’s ability to breathe based on how much and how fast he can breathe in and out. The ratio is created by algorithms that adjust for race, which raises the threshold for diagnosing a problem in black patients, the Associated Press said. By comparing the race-based algorithm to a new algorithm, the researchers found that there would have been nearly 400 more cases of lung obstruction or compromise in black men diagnosed if the new algorithm had been used.
The American Thoracic Society, which represents lung care physicians, has recommended that race and ethnicity should no longer be a factor in interpreting test results, but has also called for more research to avoid any changes that could lead to overdiagnosis of lung problems.
Medicare plans to pay for Alzheimer’s drugs that get FDA approval
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will now pay for new Alzheimer’s drugs that have received full Food and Drug Administration approval, the agency said Thursday, provided doctors who prescribe the drugs use a registry government to track patient progress and evaluate how well these drugs work in the real world.
NBC News reported that until now Medicare would only pay for the drugs if patients were enrolled in a clinical trial. It is likely that this new development will allow more patients to afford drugs that could slow the progression of the disease.
Alzheimer’s disease affects not only the people who suffer from it, but also their loved ones and caregivers, in a way that almost no other disease does, said CMS Chiquita Administrator Brooks-LaSure. CMS has always been committed to helping people gain timely access to innovative treatments that significantly improve the care and outcomes of this disease.
The winter has seen a spike in rare pediatric brain infections, the CDC reports
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released this week found that, while still very rare, hospitals reported their highest level of pediatric brain infections in years this past winter.
CBS News reported that the CDC has begun looking into a potential increase in “pediatric intracranial infections” after doctors reported an increase in hospitalizations, with many children infected with the bacteria Streptococcus. Most strep infections lead to benign illnesses such as a sore throat, but on rare occasions they can progress to troubling symptoms, such as seizures and mental status changes.
Last winter, there were 102 cases in December, surpassing the previous peak of 61 cases during the 2016-2017 winter season.
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