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BackgroundRecent surveys indicate that 48% of consumers actively use generative artificial intelligence (AI) for health-related inquiries. Despite widespread adoption and the potential to improve health care access, scant research examines the performance of AI chatbot responses regarding emergency care advice. ObjectiveWe assessed the quality of AI chatbot responses to common emergency care questions. We sought to determine qualitative differences in responses from 4 free-access AI chatbots, for 10 different serious and benign emergency conditions. MethodsWe created 10 emergency care questions that we fed into the free-access versions of ChatGPT 3.5 (OpenAI), Google Bard, Bing AI Chat (Microsoft), and Claude AI (Anthropic) on November 26, 2023. Each response was graded by 5 board-certified emergency medicine (EM) faculty for 8 domains of percentage accuracy, presence of dangerous information, factual accuracy, clarity, completeness, understandability, source reliability, and source relevancy. We determined the correct, complete response to the 10 questions from reputable and scholarly emergency medical references. These were compiled by an EM resident physician. For the readability of the chatbot responses, we used the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of each response from readability statistics embedded in Microsoft Word. Differences between chatbots were determined by the chi-square test. ResultsEach of the 4 chatbots’ responses to the 10 clinical questions were scored across 8 domains by 5 EM faculty, for 400 assessments for each chatbot. Together, the 4 chatbots had the best performance in clarity and understandability (both 85%), intermediate performance in accuracy and completeness (both 50%), and poor performance (10%) for source relevance and reliability (mostly unreported). Chatbots contained dangerous information in 5% to 35% of responses, with no statistical difference between chatbots on this metric (P=.24). ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Claud AI had similar performances across 6 out of 8 domains. Only Bing AI performed better with more identified or relevant sources (40%; the others had 0%-10%). Flesch-Kincaid Reading level was 7.7-8.9 grade for all chatbots, except ChatGPT at 10.8, which were all too advanced for average emergency patients. Responses included both dangerous (eg, starting cardiopulmonary resuscitation with no pulse check) and generally inappropriate advice (eg, loosening the collar to improve breathing without evidence of airway compromise). ConclusionsAI chatbots, though ubiquitous, have significant deficiencies in EM patient advice, despite relatively consistent performance. Information for when to seek urgent or emergent care is frequently incomplete and inaccurate, and patients may be unaware of misinformation. Sources are not generally provided. Patients who use AI to guide health care decisions assume potential risks. AI chatbots for health should be subject to further research, refinement, and regulation. We strongly recommend proper medical consultation to prevent potential adverse outcomes.

Introduction: Lower extremity deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a common diagnosis in the emergency department (ED). Deep venous thromboses can be the result of anatomical variation in the vasculature that predisposes the patient to thrombosis. May-Thurner syndrome (MTS) is one such anatomic variant defined by extrinsic compression of the left common iliac vein between the right common iliac artery and lumbar vertebrae. Case Report: We report such a case of a 39-year-old woman with no risk factors for thromboembolic disease who presented to the ED with extensive unilateral leg swelling and was ultimately diagnosed with MTS. Conclusion: This diagnosis is an important consideration particularly in patients who are young, female, have scoliosis or spinal abnormalities, or are at low risk for DVT yet who present with extensive lower extremity swelling and are found to have proximal thrombus burden. Often further imaging, anticoagulation, angioplasty, or thrombectomy are indicated to prevent morbidity and post-thrombotic syndrome in these patients.