machine predicts heart attacks 4 hours before doctors

WHEN someone shouts "Code Blue!" in a hospital, it usually means a patient needs immediate help. An algorithm may be able to make that call 4 hours earlier to head off dangerous situations. 

Code Blue events, which include cardiac or respiratory arrest, can be difficult to anticipate. Doctors use a scorecard, known as the Modified Early Warning Score, to estimate the severity of a patient's status by looking at vital signs like heart rate, blood pressure and temperature. Knowing that certain patients are at high risk helps hospitals to lower rates of arrest and shorten hospital stays.

Sriram Somanchi of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and his colleagues wanted to see if a computer could predict when these emergencies were imminent. "We had to understand what happens in Code Blue patients before they enter Code Blue," Somanchi says. (see more in Machine predicts heart attacks 4 hours before doctors - tech - 11 August 2014 - New Scientist)