Researchers are using AI tools to analyze simple facial photographs to determine key indicators of a person's health.
Mass General Brigham researchers built FAHR-Face (Foundation Artificial Intelligence for Health Recognition), a large AI foundation model trained on over 40 million face images.
They used the model to develop two complementary tools: FAHR-FaceAge, which estimates a patient's biological age with greater accuracy compared to prior age estimation algorithms, and FAHR-FaceSurvival, which directly predicts survival outcomes in patients with cancer from a face photograph.
The model development and validation study showed that the deviation between a patient's FAHR-FaceAge and their chronological age was independently linked to survival.
It also demonstrated the robustness of the tools across common photo variations.
The study is published in Lancet Digital Health.
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