The correlation of environmental parameters with the measurement of vital parameters can be particularly important for a continuous and reliable assessment of the health of many patients. In medicine, cases of common serious chronic diseases, both pulmonary and cardiac, such as asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), heart failure or rarer but dangerous such as cystic fibrosis, are well known. So far, the analysis of vital parameters is usually carried out in a medical clinic through sensors that are applied to the patient with cables attached to a machinery. Now, however, the new wireless sensor technologies allow a radically different approach thanks to sensors that can be worn easily even during daily home activities. The main advantage of this system is the ability to implement constant monitoring and to collect a large amount of data that assumes significant relevance if interpreted and correlated efficiently.
Let’s find out in detail how these new technologies can help patients suffering from serious illnesses.
COPD DATA AND NUMBERS AROUND THE WORLD
It should be borne in mind that, worldwide, COPD affects more than 300 million people, almost the 5% of the world’s population: in May 2014 it has been classified as the third leading cause of death, being responsible for more than 3 million deaths. This number is set to increase because of the high smoking rates and the ageing of the population in many countries. Globally, as of 2010, the total costs of COPD are estimated to have exceeded $2 trillion, half of which is in developing countries. To date, respiratory diseases grouped under the term COPD are the second leading cause of death in the world. From the point of view of public health, these diseases are more widespread than is thought, due to the high percentage of underdiagnosis currently detectable. Since there is no cure for respiratory diseases, but the symptoms are treatable and their progress can be delayed, the main objectives of the health guidelines are the management, stabilisation and prevention of flare-ups: this is possible through the implementation of personalised action plans that activate when the worsening of the disease is expected, with the aim of reducing the number of hospital visits and encouraging the early treatment of acute phases.
DOMUS SAPIENS, SENSORS AND E-HEALTH
Thanks to an advanced domotic system, which is based on innovative technologies and that allows to monitor the health status and the habits of users in domestic environments, also evaluating their evolution over time, the new DOMUS SAPIENS project allows to correlate vital parameters in relation to the environments in which the patient lives. User habits and critical situations related to individual pathologies can be processed through monitoring the data received, in a scenario where the home environment is characterised by an integrated but not invasive technological presence.
Domus Sapiens allows to:
- detect users' biometric parameters
- detect the environmental parameters of the dwellings
- create an Internet of Things communication infrastructure, capable of making heterogeneous sensors and detection devices communicate with each others
- correlate with machine learning techniques the amount of data collected by sensors to obtain profiles and rules
- take advantage of profiles and rules to implement care support and management techniques or suggest adjustments on the home environment that improve the well-being of those who live there
- try to predict the onset of emergencies, worsening or exacerbation of the medical condition
- take advantage of what has been learned to implement alarm mechanisms and decision support in the event of emergencies
- contextualise the developed techniques in a use case of obvious scientific and market importance
INNOVATION, WELFARE AND HEALTH
As it is commonly known, the health expenditure in the most advanced countries is reaching high values and this bring to reflect on the identification of new models that allow the remote monitoring of a patient’s health. DOMUS SAPIENS enables intelligent, real-time monitoring of a user’s health and this can allow significant savings on healthcare spending by promoting de-hospedalisation. The results of the project are extendable to elderly, sick or disabled people and to doctors and facilities that manage public and private health (as service providers). These types of healthcare software will allow to:
- improve autonomy and independence and increase the sense of security of sick people
- support the families and organisations that take care of them
- reduce overall operating costs, and encourage de-hospitalisation
- accumulate and correlate data on the disease related to the environment in which it develops
The DOMUS SAPIENS project is part of the innovation linked to the Home and Health applications that have made their entry on smartphones and smartwatches in recent years: HT APPS, a Catania-based software house established in 2004 and dedicated to app and web app development, is proud to collaborate on this project of innovative assistive home automation, structuring its data management server, visualisation and alerts system.