Computers could greatly improve preventative healthcare in the future, suggests a new study by experts at the University of Nottingham.The team of healthcare data scientists and doctors have developed and tested a system of computer-based 'machine learning' algorithms to predict the risk of early death due to chronic disease in a large middle-aged population. 

They found this AI system was very accurate in its predictions and performed better than the current standard approach to prediction developed by human experts. Predicting death due to several different disease outcomes is highly complex, especially given environmental and individual factors that may affect them. Preventative healthcare is a growing priority in the fight against serious diseases.     The study is published in a special collections edition of ‘Machine Learning in Health and Biomedicine. The Nottingham researchers predict that AI will play a vital part in the development of future tools capable of delivering personalised medicine, tailoring risk management to individual patients