Quantum Machine Learning for Early Disease Diagnosis: A Systematic Review and Public Health Innovation Perspective
Abstract
Prompt diagnosis of disease is a key determinant in reducing mortality, improving patient care and decreasing healthcare costs. Despite the success of classical machine learning (ML) in improving predictive modeling across oncology, cardiology, and neurology, growing data dimensionality and computational complexity remain ongoing barriers. Quantum computing based on superposition and entanglement is a promising computational paradigm that shows potential advantages in high-dimensional pattern recognition and kernel-based learning. This review aims to systematically summarize preliminary work on quantum machine learning (QML) with empirical applications for early disease diagnosis, focusing on its theoretical underpinnings in addition to its algorithmic design and use in healthcare. We then frame the discussion with respect to quantum support vector machines and variational quantum classifiers, quantum kernels, as well as hybrid quantum–classical architectures. We further evaluate existing hardware constraints in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era and appraise translational maturity for integration into public health. While clinical deployment is still far from broad, hybrid QMLs are proving useful in low-data and complex-feature contexts. We end with research challenges, regulatory guidance, and strategic directions towards enabling quantum-enhanced precision diagnostics aligned with U.S. public health innovation initiatives.
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