JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Medical history contributes approximately 80% to the diagnosis, although physical examinations and laboratory investigations increase a physician’s confidence in the medical diagnosis. The concept of artificial intelligence (AI] was first proposed more than 70 years ago. Recently, its role in various fields of medicine has grown remarkably. However, no studies have evaluated the importance of patient history in AI-assisted medical diagnosis.

Objective:

This study explored the contribution of patient history to AI-assisted medical diagnoses.

Methods:

Using 30 cases from clinical vignettes from the British Medical Journal, we evaluated the accuracy of diagnoses generated by the AI model ChatGPT. We compared the diagnoses made by ChatGPT based solely on the medical history with the correct diagnoses. We also compared the diagnoses made by ChatGPT after incorporating additional physical examination findings and laboratory data alongside the history with correct diagnoses.

Results:

ChatGPT accurately diagnosed 76.6% of the cases with the medical history alone, consistent with previous research targeting physicians. We also found that this rate was 93.3% when additional information was included.

Conclusions:

Although adding additional information improves diagnostic accuracy, patient history remains a significant factor in AI-assisted medical diagnosis. Thus, when utilizing AI in medical diagnosis, it is crucial to include pertinent and correct patient histories for an accurate diagnosis. Our findings emphasize the continued significance of patient history in clinical diagnoses in this age and highlight the need for its integration into AI-assisted medical diagnosis systems.