Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Fit for WorkHealth surveillanceDiabetesSickness absence managementWellbeing and health promotion

AI diabetes breakthrough, as NHS rolls out eye screening programme

by Nic Paton 22 Nov 2024
by Nic Paton 22 Nov 2024 NHS England is rolling out community optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans to some 60,000 people with diabetes
Shutterstock
NHS England is rolling out community optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans to some 60,000 people with diabetes
Shutterstock

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool that analyses ECG readings during routine heart scans could identify people at risk of type 2 diabetes as much as 10 years before they begin to develop the condition, research has suggested.

The research, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), was presented at the American Heart Association’s recent Scientific Sessions 2024 in Chicago.

The breakthrough has come as, separately, NHS England has announced the rollout of a community-based programme of digital eye screening for people with diabetes.

It is estimated there are around 5.6 million people in the UK living with diabetes, and it is thought up to 1.2 million of those have the condition and are yet to be diagnosed.

Diabetes

Number of adults with diabetes worldwide twice a high as thought

Eating just two slices of ham daily can raise risk of diabetes

NHS diabetes ‘soups and shakes’ programme helps a third into remission

Type 2 diabetes and ‘prediabetes’ are diagnosed using a blood test. Early detection is vital in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and its associated complications, which can include problems with the heart, eyes and feet.

The BHF-funded team, led by Dr Fu Siong Ng and Dr Arunashis Sau at Imperial College London, developed the ‘AI-ECG Risk Estimation for Diabetes Mellitus’ tool (AIRE-DM) using around 1.2 million ECGs from hospital records.

Using data from the UK Biobank, they then validated AI’s ability to detect subtle changes in routine ECGs that could signify that someone might be at higher risk of type 2 diabetes, years before their blood sugar levels begin to rise.

The AIRE-DM tool accurately predicted future risk in people of various ages, genders, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds about 70% of the time.

The researchers suggest it could help spot people who might otherwise not have been identified as likely to develop the condition.

The tool will be piloted in the next year, and the researchers hope it could be rolled out in the NHS in the next few years, the BHF has said.

Professor Bryan Williams, BHF chief scientific and medical officer, said: “This exciting research uses powerful artificial intelligence to analyse ECGs, revealing how AI can spot things that cannot usually be observed in routinely collected health data. This kind of insight could be a game-changer in predicting future risk of developing type 2 diabetes, years before the condition begins.”

The NHS England rollout, meanwhile, is providing optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans to some 60,000 people with diabetes outside of traditional hospital settings, so in larger GP practices, community hospitals or mobile vans.

The hope is that the initiative will save up to 120,000 hospital appointments a year and help prevent diabetes-related sight loss.

Around four million people are currently registered with the NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme, and 3.3 million have routine digital screening every one or two years.

OCT uses light waves to take more than?1,000 images of your eye, from the retina to the optic nerve to create a detailed 3D image that gives more accurate results than standard cameras. The scans detect changes to the eye that don’t show up in colour photography, such as a thickening of the retina.

Steve Russell, NHS national director for vaccinations and screening, said: “This technology will help us find and treat diabetic eye conditions early, helping minimise and prevent sight loss, and it also means that thousands of appointments in traditional hospital settings could be saved, which is great news for the NHS.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

 

 

Nic Paton

Nic Paton is consultant editor at Personnel Today. One of the country's foremost workplace health journalists, Nic has written for Personnel Today and Occupational Health & Wellbeing since 2001, and edited the magazine from 2018.

previous post
Accountants experiencing ‘concerning’ levels of stress and burnout
next post
Retention payments to tackle decline in armed forces

You may also like

Uncertainty over law hampering legal use of medical...

20 May 2025

Employers ‘worryingly’ ignorant about stress risk assessments

20 May 2025

Awareness weeks fuel spike in demand for mental...

19 May 2025

Healthcare workers prioritise mental health support in new...

12 May 2025

Tool developed for employers to calculate cost of...

28 Apr 2025

Why employers must do more to support all...

24 Apr 2025

NHS to expand GP scheme enabling greater access...

16 Apr 2025

Computer says no: IT woes giving employees sleepless...

15 Apr 2025

Access to Work backlogs and delays costing businesses...

14 Apr 2025

Nearly half did not take even one full...

14 Apr 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today