OHIO — A new nationwide survey conducted by the Cleveland Clinic revealed three in five Americans believe AI in health care will lead to better heart care.

The clinic said despite the higher number putting faith in technology, many remain cautious of how they use artificial intelligence regarding their health.

What You Need To Know

  • The clinic said despite the higher number putting faith in technology, many remain cautious of how they use AI

  • Seventy-two percent of Americans believe the health advice from computer chatbots is accurate, but 89%, said they would seek a doctor's advice before acting on the bots recommendations

  • Only one in five of Americans have sought health advice from a chatbot or other form of AI

  • Through the use of monitoring technology, most Americans are seeing significant physical and mental benefits

Seventy-two percent of Americans believe the health advice from computer chatbots is accurate, but nine in 10, or 89%, said they would seek a doctor's advice before acting on the bots recommendations. 

“The increasing number of advancements in AI and in digital health has the potential to transform health care delivery, especially in cardiovascular care,” said Dr. Samir Kapadia, chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, in a news release.

Only one in five (22%) of Americans have sought health advice from a chatbot or other form of AI, but 65% said they would be comfortable receiving heart health advice from AI.

“As clinicians, we are getting a lot of questions from our patients about this topic,” said Kapadia. “For this year’s survey, we wanted to better understand how people feel about emerging tools like AI and if their health is benefiting from technologies that are already on the market, such as wearables. As these continue to advance, we’d like to educate our patients about the role of AI and technology in assisting healthcare professionals, rather than replacing them.”

Fifty percent of Americans use at least one type technology to improve their heart health, but the most tracked health-related metrics range from the most popular, daily steo count, to heart rate and finally calorie burn. Nearly one-quarter of Americans said the monitoring aids in finding motivation and/or accountability in reaching their daily activity goals.

Through the use of monitoring technology, most Americans are seeing significant physical and mental benefits, with four in five users (79%) seeing a positive change.

Additional results of the survey among those who use health monitoring technology include:

  • 60% of Americans track their daily step count
  • 53% monitor their heart rate/pulse
  • 40% track their burned calories
  • 32% track their blood pressure
  • 53% say they began exercising more regularly after using wearable technology
  • 50% are getting in more steps per day than they used to
  • 34% are improving their eating habits
  • 27% are more intentional about finding time to de-stress and relax

The survey was conducted as part of Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute’s “Love your Heart” campaign in celebration of American Heart Month in February. The survey was conducted online amongst 1,000 "general population" Americans age 18 and older. For more information, click here.