Article | Mar 6, 2025
An innovative approach to early diagnosis of heart failure (HF) and COPD, leveraging the power of Premier League football ⚽ to reach communities that may not otherwise respond to community health care screening strategies. By integrating AI-enabled point-of-care diagnostics into a 1-stop community hub, this project is making early detection more accessible than ever.
Key Findings
- During its pilot phase, the hub screened over 1,100 people from underserved Merseyside communities who would not typically engage with conventional healthcare pathways, demonstrating the reach of a football-based screening model.
- Of those screened, 12% were identified with COPD, 18% with elevated blood pressure, and 3% with heart failure, many for the first time, showing a high yield of previously undetected cardiorespiratory disease.
- AI-enabled point-of-care echocardiography integrated into the 1-stop hub allowed rapid non-specialist screening without requiring referral to a cardiac imaging lab.
- The programme demonstrates that embedding diagnostics in a trusted community setting like a Premier League football club can meaningfully expand diagnostic reach in populations hardest to engage through NHS channels.
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AI Echo for Screening in the Community
Sankaranarayanan, R., Hartshorne-Evans, N., Mclean, L., Jones, J., Salla, M., Chakrabarti, B., Hadcroft, J., Pritchard, C., Smith, A., & Lam, C. S. P. (2025). Early Detection of Cardiorespiratory Diseases at Everton BEAT-Breathlessness Community Hub: How Football Can Help Save Lives. JACC: Heart Failure. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchf.2025.01.008