MONARCA 

The demographic development in Denmark poses great challenges to the public health services. The population is ageing and will become increasingly prone to diseases, and doctors and nurses will be in short supply.

One solution could be cutting admission periods for patients at hospitals. Instead patients can be ‘admitted at home’ – provided with technological aids that make it possible to offer the same tests, monitoring and treatment as the patient would receive at the hospital.

The demographic development in Denmark poses great challenges to the public health services. The population is ageing and will become increasingly prone to diseases, and doctors and nurses will be in short supply.

One solution could be cutting admission periods for patients at hospitals. Instead patients can be ‘admitted at home’ – provided with technological aids that make it possible to offer the same tests, monitoring and treatment as the patient would receive at the hospital.

The IT University’s researchers have great experience in telemedical solution research and patients suffering from mental illness can also benefit from the opportunities that modern technology offers. The IT University is taking part in the big EU project MONARCA to help the manic-depressives. New methods of monitoring patients can warn the doctor or the patient if an episode is underway.

Manic-depressive mental disorder is a common mental disorder that causes mood changes. The changes are either abnormal elation (mania) or sadness (depression). The episodes may call for hospitalisation and efficient treatment can shorten the duration of the episodes. However, after the illness period, the probability of the patient requiring readmission is up to 90%.  It is therefore important to detect changes in the patient’s condition quickly to intervene.

The aim of MONARCA is to make treatment of the manic-depressives more efficient. Researchers are working to develop technology that will diagnose and predict episodes, and help the individual patient to treat and take better care of himself/herself. The technology will also help hospital staff to plan a more efficient treatment.

The idea is for patients to be equipped with sensors that will detect when an episode is underway. Several types of sensors are on the drawing board:

• A wrist sensor with built-in microphone (less talk may be a sign of a worsening in the patient’s condition)
  
• A sock with built-in sensor (the conductivity on hands and feet may be an indicator of stress)
  
• An ‘activity monitor’ (the patient’s activity level often decreases when an episode is underway)

By picking up on the changes quickly, the healthcare staff – or the patient – can intervene early on. In this way, the researchers hope to reduce the need for hospitalisation and the probability of relapse.

However, an efficient monitoring system does not only depend on accurate sensors. There is also a need for IT systems that can provide a perspective on the data and interpret them. Therefore, the researchers are working on developing an algorithm to predict changes in manic-depressive patients. The predictions of the algorithm can lead to the patient being notified so that he/she can contact a doctor or change his/her medication. Alternatively a monitoring system can be established with the doctor to receive information directly.

The project will run for three years and will eventually be tested and evaluated at the psychiatric ward at Rigshospitalet (the Copenhagen University Hospital) and at psychiatric hospitals several countries.

The project involves 12 partners: 4 businesses, 3 hospitals and 5 universities.

MONARCA is funded as s STREP project under the FP7 European Framework program.