PARIS, Oct 18 — Could artificial intelligence one day give doctors a helping hand? The idea is a matter of debate, but numerous studies now point to the technology’s potential in the healthcare field.
The latest such research looks at ChatGPT’s ability to manage clinical depression, reporting that it “may be better than doctors,” when it comes to following clinical guidelines.
“The study suggests that ChatGPT... has the potential to enhance decision-making in primary healthcare,” explain the researchers behind this study.
In view of the speed with which Open AI’s conversational artificial intelligence evaluates and responds to a question or a piece of information, as well as its objectivity, the scientists wanted to analyse its ability to evaluate a therapeutic approach for mild and severe depression, in comparison with 1,249 French primary care physicians.
For the purposes of this research, the scientists presented several scenarios to ChatGPT, all based on hypothetical patients with depressive symptoms — sadness, sleep disturbance, loss of appetite — for the past three weeks, and for whom a diagnosis of mild to moderate depression would have been made during an initial consultation.
The scientists created eight versions of these prompts with different variations of patient characteristics, notably in terms of gender, social class or degree of depression severity.
These were entered into ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4 — the free and paid versions of the chatbot, respectively — and repeated ten times for greater reliability.
‘Better than a doctor’
For each scenario, the now-famous AI chatbot was asked: “What do you think a primary care physician should suggest in this situation?”
In addition, ChatGPT was given a helping hand in the form of a choice of possible responses: watchful waiting; referral for psychotherapy; prescribed drugs (for depression/anxiety/sleep problems); referral for psychotherapy plus prescribed drugs; none of these clinical approaches.
Published in the journal Family Medicine and Community Health, the findings suggest that the AI chatbot “may be better than a doctor at following recognised treatment standards for clinical depression.”
In detail, while 4 per cent of physicians exclusively recommended psychotherapy for mild cases of depression, “in line with clinical guidance,” ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4 did so in 95 per cent and 97.5 per cent of cases, respectively.
Physicians were more likely to propose exclusive drug treatment (48 per cent) or psychotherapy coupled with prescription drugs (32.5 per cent).
In cases of severe depression, doctors favoured the combination of psychotherapy and medication in 44.5 per cent of cases, compared with 72 per cent for ChatGPT-3.5 and 100 per cent for ChatGPT-4, respectively, “in line with clinical guidelines,” the researchers note.
As for the type of medication prescribed, ChatGPT preferred antidepressants, at 74 per cent for version 3.5 and 68 per cent for version 4, versus only 18 per cent for the human doctors.
The physicians recommended a combination of antidepressants and antianxiety drugs and sleeping pills in 67.5 per cent of cases.
“ChatGPT-4 demonstrated greater precision in adjusting treatment to comply with clinical guidelines.
Furthermore, no discernible biases related to gender and [socioeconomic status] were detected in the ChatGPT systems,” explain the researchers.
No substitute
However, the study has a number of limitations, starting with the sample of French primary care doctors, and the use of only two versions of the chatbot, raising questions about wider applicability.
Moreover, this observational research was based on an initial consultation for depressive symptoms, without taking into account current treatment, past history and other variables that a doctor can monitor over years.
The issue of data protection is also important, if not essential, given the field in question.
“There are ethical issues to consider, particularly around ensuring data privacy and security which are supremely important, considering the sensitive nature of mental health data,” reads a news release accompanying the study.
“AI shouldn’t ever be a substitute for human clinical judgement in the diagnosis or treatment of depression.” — ETX Studio
