Artificial intelligence will improve quality of life for Alzheimer's patients
Clinical trials in four European countries
The seven partners of the initiative, funded within the framework of the European Horizon 2020 programme, include university research centres, organisations and companies in Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Greece and Italy. The platform is currently carrying out four clinical trials in France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain (in the last case at the Bages University Foundation of the University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia).
Each of the trials includes 400 people, of whom half are patients and half are caregivers. The results will be announced in May.
The UPC is coordinating the European eHealth research project CaregiversPRO-MMD, in which a virtual health platform has been created to support people with Alzheimer's disease, their caregivers and health professionals.
Mar 05, 2019
The online platform developed in the project CaregiversPRO-MMD operates as a social network and offers advanced, personalised tools for each user according to their needs. It is intended to improve the quality of life of patients and their caregivers, and to empower them to cope with the problems associated with the disease.
The aim of the project, led by the researcher of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) Ulises Cortés, of the Intelligence Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (IDEAI-UPC) research centre, is to harness the potential of new information technologies to provide solutions to the needs and problems arising from chronic diseases associated with human aging. The project is funded by the European Horizon 2020 programme and includes the design of an app to monitor patients with a mild level of dementia. The app offers tools to support caregivers and allows them to share experiences with each other and with health professionals.
The virtual platform will improve the flow of information between the social and health system and the patients and caregivers. The health professionals will receive accurate information on the patients and be able to interact with them. The caregivers will receive medical information such as drug side effects and interactions in order to reduce the risk factors associated with the disease. The group of people interacting with the patients will therefore be cohesive, informed and well-prepared to offer the best possible care and support.