CONQUERING FRAILTY WITH A MULTI-PERSPECTIVE APPROACH

My-AHA Project as an example for integrated platforms, symbiosis of interventions and individualization of support for patients. My-AHA proposes a holistic view of age-related frailty, comprising frailty across interrelated domains of: cognition, physical function, mood, social isolation and sleep. Age-related frailty represents a major burden to older adults and social and health care systems. Early detection and intervention are crucial in sustaining active and healthy ageing (AHA) and slowing or reversing further decline. The main aim of My-AHA is to reduce frailty risk in older adults at risk of becoming frail by improving physical activity and cognitive function, psychological state, social resources, nutrition, sleep and overall well-being. It will empower older citizens to better manage their own health, resulting in healthcare cost savings. My-AHA will use state-of-the-art analytical concepts to provide new ways of health monitoring and disease prevention through individualized profiling and personalized recommendations, feedback and support. An ICT-based platform will detect defined risks in the frailty domains early and accurately via non-stigmatising embedded sensors and data readily available in the daily living environment of older adults. When risk is detected, My-AHA will provide individually tailored ICT-based interventions with a scientific evidence base of efficacy, including vetted interventions from established providers of medical and AHA support. These interventions will be deployed in a manner designed to motivate users to participate in exercise, cognitively stimulating games and social networking to achieve long-term behavioural change, sustained by continued end user engagement with My-AHA. By this, different platforms (Smart Companion, iStoppFalls, etc.) will be connected by the My-AHA Middleware and combine information and data from different sources with a decision support system for choosing the personal interventions. The My-AHA platform will be tested in a multi-centre randomized controlled trial involving centres across Europe, Japan, South Korea and Australia. The project is currently in Alpha phase testing. Following alpha wave testing, the RCT will commence including feasibility and manageability testing of the pre-post design. During the first project year, interventions were defined and analysed for their proven effectiveness and their chance for combination. Selection of the platforms has been completed with middleware development approaching completion. The prototype setup has been deployed with the first participants in the Alpha Wave. During this time, experience on the new data protection regulation for EU countries was gained as well as for business opportunities for the developed interventions and results of the trial. This paper provides a short overview of the projects approach and current status.