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Using AI with Medical Research

This guide will help you understand how AI can--and cannot--help you with your medical research.

Subject Terms

There are aspects of AI that work partly with medical research for now. Referring back to the search in the previous section on the “elderly” search, I asked ChatGPT:

How about MeSH terms for that list of words?

It produces:

  • Elderly - "Aged"
  • Older adults - "Aged"
  • Aging population - "Aging"
  • Geriatrics - "Geriatrics"
  • Gerontology - "Gerontology"
  • Seniors - "Aged"
  • Aging - "Aging"
  • Aged - "Aged"
  • Senior citizens - "Aged"
  • Advanced age - "Aged, 80 and over"
  • Elderly care - "Geriatric Nursing" or "Geriatric Care"
  • Frail elderly - "Frail Elderly"
  • Aging process - "Aging"
  • Elderly health - "Geriatrics" or "Health of the Elderly"
  • Geriatric health - "Geriatrics"
  • Age-related conditions - This can vary depending on the condition, but often "Aged" combined with specific conditions like "Chronic Disease"
  • Longevity - "Longevity"
  • Ageing - "Aging"
  • Older people - "Aged"
  • Elderly patients - "Aged"

When prompted, ChatGPT provides these search string incorporating MeSH terms:

("Aged"[MeSH] OR "Aging"[MeSH] OR "Geriatrics"[MeSH] OR "Gerontology"[MeSH] OR "Aged, 80 and over"[MeSH] OR "Geriatric Nursing"[MeSH] OR "Frail Elderly"[MeSH] OR "Longevity"[MeSH])

This syntax looks pretty good, however note the highlighted term for “Gerontology.” It is not actually a MeSH term. I am not sure why ChatGPT thinks that it is, but it is not a MeSH term. The search still works (with the note: Quoted phrase not found in phrase index: "Gerontology"), but it is a reminder that–like with citation tools such as EndNote and RefWorks–techonology is an aid and not a pure solution. 

You will still need to review your search terms, as of this writing (July 2024) ChatGPT’s MeSH terms were last updated in September of 2021.

Translating Questions

AI can also help you build a preliminary search in English using a question in Arabic:

Can you build me a search stream from this research question?: ما هو تأثير تدخلات رعاية المسنين على جودة الحياة بين المسنين مقارنة بالرعاية العامة؟

To create a search string for the research question "ما هو تأثير تدخلات رعاية المسنين على جودة الحياة بين المسنين مقارنة بالرعاية العامة؟" ("What is the effect of geriatric care interventions on the quality of life among the elderly compared to general care?"), you can use a combination of MeSH and free-text terms. Here is a detailed search string in both Arabic and English:
("Elderly"[MeSH Terms] OR "Aged"[MeSH Terms] OR "Older adults"[All Fields] OR "Seniors"[All Fields]) 
AND 
("Geriatric care"[MeSH Terms] OR "Elderly care"[All Fields] OR "Geriatric interventions"[All Fields]) 
AND 
("Quality of life"[MeSH Terms] OR "Health-related quality of life"[All Fields]) AND 
("General care"[All Fields] OR "Standard care"[All Fields])