In early research, an AI model detects signs of Parkinson's using breathing patterns

James Parkinson first flagged a link between changes in breathing patterns and the debilitating disease that now bears his name. But since his work in the early 19th century, only minimal progress has been made in treating a condition that has become alarmingly prevalent. A study published Monday offers a glimmer of new hope. The paper by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and several other institutions describes an artificial intelligence tool that can analyze changes in nighttime breathing to detect and track the progression of disease, which causes tremors and other serious issues with movement. The AI was able to accurately flag Parkinson's using one night of breathing data collected from a belt worn around the abdomen or from a passive monitoring system that tracks breathing using a low-power radio signal.