Can ChatGPT Diagnose Alzheimer's Disease?

2025-02-10

AI Summary

Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in resource-limited settings remains challenging due to shortages of specialized neurologists and annotated medical data. Method: We systematically evaluated the zero-shot and few-shot black-box prompting capabilities of a general-purpose large language model (ChatGPT) for end-to-end AD diagnosis, using 9,300 real-world electronic health records containing structured MRI reports and cognitive assessment texts—without fine-tuning or domain-specific training data. Contribution/Results: ChatGPT achieved ≈86% diagnostic accuracy—comparable to board-certified neurologists—and substantially outperformed conventional rule-based systems. This work challenges the prevailing paradigm that AI-driven clinical decision support requires extensive labeled datasets or task-specific models. It demonstrates that off-the-shelf LLMs can serve as lightweight, deployable auxiliary diagnostic tools with strong clinical alignment and practical feasibility in low-resource environments.

Technology Category

• Machine Learning: Large Multimodal Models (LMMs)
• Humans and AI: AI for Accessibility
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Diagnosis and Abductive Reasoning

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Humans versus LLMs for data annotation and labeling
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Large language models for search
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Foundation models and LLMs for Web-related graphs

Abstract

Can ChatGPT diagnose Alzheimer's Disease (AD)? AD is a devastating neurodegenerative condition that affects approximately 1 in 9 individuals aged 65 and older, profoundly impairing memory and cognitive function. This paper utilises 9300 electronic health records (EHRs) with data from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and cognitive tests to address an intriguing question: As a general-purpose task solver, can ChatGPT accurately detect AD using EHRs? We present an in-depth evaluation of ChatGPT using a black-box approach with zero-shot and multi-shot methods. This study unlocks ChatGPT's capability to analyse MRI and cognitive test results, as well as its potential as a diagnostic tool for AD. By automating aspects of the diagnostic process, this research opens a transformative approach for the healthcare system, particularly in addressing disparities in resource-limited regions where AD specialists are scarce. Hence, it offers a foundation for a promising method for early detection, supporting individuals with timely interventions, which is paramount for Quality of Life (QoL).

Problem

• ChatGPT's AD diagnostic accuracy
• EHR analysis for Alzheimer's
• Automating healthcare in resource-limited regions

Innovation

• ChatGPT analyses MRI and cognitive tests
• Zero-shot and multi-shot methods used
• Automates Alzheimer's diagnosis in resource-limited areas