'Groundbreaking' AI for stroke prevention just as rates surge
Three years into the shots and stroke rates are still surging
Cases of stroke are “skyrocketing” in the under-40 age group, according to a headline in the British Daily Mail. Their article features a “super-fit healthy eater” who is just 30 and now faces the possibility of being paralyzed for the rest of his life, if rehabilitation does not prove effective.
His doctors “haven’t confirmed what caused the stroke, but think it might be linked to a fibroelastoma, a benign tumor that can grow on the heart valve and cause clots.” No mention is made in the article of the nature of the clot surgeons removed from the man's brain in a complex six-hour-long procedure.
However, the article does note that a countrywide analysis of data from Britain has revealed a jump of nearly 25 percent in the number of strokes suffered by men under the age of 39.
Strokes affect more than 100,000 Brits annually — one every five minutes — claiming 38,000 lives [per year].
These figures echo countrywide findings in Israel during the first year of the COVID shots, as well as data from other countries.
Will AI save the day?
The Daily Mail makes no suggestion as to what might be causing the spike in strokes in young men, a stance shared by other mainstream media outlets. What many articles are highlighting, however, is a “new” way of preventing strokes, by detecting minor heart rhythm abnormalities before they cause symptoms and treating people with blood thinners to reduce the likelihood of them developing clots.
These cardiac rhythm abnormalities that doctors hope to forestall are known as atrial fibrillation (AF). Around 1.6 million people in the UK have received a diagnosis of AF, but according to cardiac experts, many more likely have this abnormal heart rhythm as well, placing them at higher risk of stroke, although they are not aware of it.
Scientists in the UK have now developed a new algorithm (employing AI) to detect AF. As AI tools become more advanced and efficient, they are gradually being introduced into healthcare systems, and this “groundbreaking” algorithm (as Sky News refers to it) was trained using the digitalized health records of over two million people and then validated with the records of a further 10 million people.
The idea behind the algorithm is that it assesses risk based on relevant health factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiac problems (but not the COVID shots). People identified by AI as being at high risk of AF are then offered use of a hand-held EKG machine and told to measure their heart rhythm twice a day for a month (as well as whenever they feel heart palpitations). If the readings suggest they have AF, the person’s physician is informed and treatment options will be discussed — primarily blood thinners which can reduce the likelihood of a person developing dangerous clots.
Or perhaps blood thinners (which are marketed as totally safe and effective)
According to the British National Health Service (NHS), the number of people on such blood thinners has risen by eight percent over the last five years and they claim that “thousands” of strokes have thereby been prevented, a claim which is impossible to either prove or disprove. They make no mention of the health problems and indeed deaths that will, statistically speaking, have occurred due to so many people being on long-term blood-thinning medication.
Warfarin is the most commonly prescribed anticoagulant drug (blood thinner) and is considered highly effective at reducing the risk of AF-related strokes. However, a person using it must be monitored and take frequent blood tests (to ensure that platelet counts are stable). Newer blood thinners known as DOACs (direct oral anticoagulants) are being increasingly prescribed for the most common type of atrial fibrillation as frequent blood tests are not required when taking them.
Xarelto, a popular DOAC, was introduced in 2011 as an excellent option for people at risk of blood clots from deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism (caused by blood clots entering the lungs). By 2014, the first lawsuits were being filed against its makers, Bayer and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, for failing to warn patients of the risks of dangerous bleeding associated with the drug. In 2019, Bayer and Janssen settled around 25,000 lawsuits for $775 million. (Meanwhile, Xarelto had netted over $4 billion for its manufacturers.)
Bayer and Janssen have never admitted liability in the cases, insisting that clinical trials showed their drug to be safe and effective. They note that over 45 million people have used the drug over the years. 5,719 deaths have been reported to the FDA in association with Xarelto use. The most common reported complaint with the drug (and with other DOACs) is internal hemorrhage. For many years, uncontrollable bleeding following DOAC use had no drug antidote; it was only in 2018 that andexanet alfa was FDA-approved to treat this serious adverse event. (This drug, too, has serious side effects associated with it; ongoing clinical trials show that almost 20 percent of people taking andexanet alfa suffer serious thrombotic events including death.)
Pick your side effect
If AI tools do succeed in identifying people at risk of stroke and many more people are placed on blood thinners, possibly to be taken for the rest of their lives or at least for years, many deaths will likely occur due to internal hemorrhage and determining whether their number is outweighed by the number of lives saved due to reduced stroke risk may prove extremely difficult.
But mainstream media may be wrong in presenting algorithms as “groundbreaking” interventions. AI tools for detecting AF have been around for over a decade. Perhaps they are now more efficient, having been trained on larger sets of data. What does appear to be new is the urgency of finding a solution for “surges” in strokes among young and seemingly healthy people who had no idea that they had anything to be worried about. Whether or not blood thinners will prove effective in battling clots associated with COVID shots remains to be seen.
