Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM):
Current screening for gestational diabetes mellitus is costly and a burden for pregnant women. AI can assist in finding ways to replace the current standard. Current screening guidelines according to the US Preventive Services Task Force consist of a 50g of oral glucose challenge test performed after 24-week gestation, followed by a second diagnostic test. They found insufficient evidence to screen before 24-week gestation [11,12]. Screening for GDM is important to prevent complications, such as hypoglycemia in the neonate, large for gestational age, increased number of cesarean births, amongst others. GDM also results in more expensive outcomes due to increased cesarean deliveries, which could be decreased if a more convenient screening test was available. Polak and Mendyk created a study to evaluate the use of an AI calculator to screen for GDM that would be more cost-efficient and less inconvenient for the patient than current guidelines [11]. They proposed the use of an online calculator that a physician and patient can use for screening. The calculator is based on an artificial neuronal network (ANN) which was adapted to a Java applet and published online [12]. The model they used to create the AI system is called multi-layer perceptrons, which can send information back and forth, hence its denomination as an algorithm-back propagation (BP). Risk factors such as high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, smoking, weight, low-fat diet, and ethnicity are used to create the calculator. The authors concluded that despite AI having lower-efficacy than the standard screening test, the current ANN model on the website will continue to progress and learn as it continues to be exposed to more cases; with the finality of eventually helping to lower health costs [13]. An additional benefit is that it is user-friendly, which makes it practical for daily use.