Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36306653›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of medical informatics2022

Assessing data gathering of chatbot based symptom checkers - a clinical vignettes study.

Niv Ben-Shabat, Gal Sharvit, Ben Meimis, Daniel Ben Joya, Ariel Sloma, David Kiderman, Aviv Shabat, Avishai M Tsur, Abdulla Watad, Howard Amital

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Article in International journal of medical informatics, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  9. ChatGPT, GPT-4, and Other Large Language Models: The Next Revolution for Clinical Microbiology?Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2023
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Niv Ben-ShabatSackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel; Department of Medicine 'B', Sheba Medical Centre, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Centre, Ramat-Gan, Israel. Electronic address: nivben7@gmail.com.
Gal SharvitSackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
Ben MeimisFaculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Daniel Ben JoyaFaculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Ariel SlomaSackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
David KidermanKaplan Medical Center, Rehovot, Israel.
Aviv ShabatDepartment of Pediatrics A, Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
Avishai M TsurSackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel; Department of Medicine 'B', Sheba Medical Centre, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Centre, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Israel Defence Forces, Medical Corps, Tel Hashomer, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Abdulla WatadSackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel; Department of Medicine 'B', Sheba Medical Centre, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Centre, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Section of Musculoskeletal Disease, NIHR Leeds Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit, Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds, Chapel Allerton Hospital, Leeds, UK.
Howard AmitalSackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel; Department of Medicine 'B', Sheba Medical Centre, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Centre, Ramat-Gan, Israel.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe burden on healthcare systems is mounting continuously owing to population growth and aging, overuse of medical services, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This overload is also causing reduced healthcare quality and outcomes. One solution gaining momentum is the integration of intelligent self-assessment tools, known as symptom-checkers, into healthcare-providers' systems. To the best of our knowledge, no study so far has investigated the data-gathering capabilities of these tools, which represent a crucial resource for simulating doctors' skills in medical-interviews.

objectivesThe goal of this study was to evaluate the data-gathering function of currently available chatbot symptom-checkers.

methodsWe evaluated 8 symptom-checkers using 28 clinical vignettes from the repository of MSD-Manual case studies. The mean number of predefined pertinent findings for each case was 31.8 ± 6.8. The vignettes were entered into the platforms by 3 medical students who simulated the role of the patient. For each conversation, we obtained the number of pertinent findings retrieved and the number of questions asked. We then calculated the recall-rates (pertinent-findings retrieved out of all predefined pertinent-findings), and efficiency-rates (pertinent-findings retrieved out of the number of questions asked) of data-gathering, and compared them between the platforms.

resultsThe overall recall rate for all symptom-checkers was 0.32(2,280/7,112;95 %CI 0.31-0.33) for all pertinent findings, 0.37(1,110/2,992;95 %CI 0.35-0.39) for present findings, and 0.28(1140/4120;95 %CI 0.26-0.29) for absent findings. Among the symptom-checkers, Kahun platform had the highest recall rate with 0.51(450/889;95 %CI 0.47-0.54). Out of 4,877 questions asked overall, 2,280 findings were gathered, yielding an efficiency rate of 0.46(95 %CI 0.45-0.48) across all platforms. Kahun was the most efficient tool 0.74 (95 %CI 0.70-0.77) without a statistically significant difference from Your.MD 0.69(95 %CI 0.65-0.73).

conclusionThe data-gathering performance of currently available symptom checkers is questionable. From among the tools available, Kahun demonstrated the best overall performance.

Indexed as

COVID-19HumansPandemicsQuality of Health CareSoftwareArtificial intelligenceChatbotsComputer-assisted diagnosisData-gatheringDiagnosisMedical interviewSymptom checkerTelemedicineTriage

Identifiers

PMID36306653
PMCPMC9595333

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.