Diabetes is a chronic and costly disease for the individual and
for society. According to WHO, the costs of diabetes care will rise
sharply in the coming years as a result of demographic and
socio-economic development in many parts of the world. A steady
increase in the number of diabetics and the cost of diabetes care
is expected in Denmark as well. Efficient diabetes control can
avoid a worsening of the disease and further complications
associated with the disease. Ensuring the right balance of diet,
physical activity, medication and blood glucose level requires
knowledge, motivation and new tools.
Vision
DiabeticLink is a Social Media Health Management System that
assists people with type-1 and type-2 diabetes by obtaining new
knowledge and communicating with other diabetics. DiabeticLink will
become a Danish version of the DiabeticLink System, which is
currently being tested in the United States and Taiwan. The
DiabeticLink System is being developed by the Artificial
Intelligence Lab at the University of Arizona which researches the
field of big data within the health sector, and data visualization
for decision support and patient empowerment.
DiabeticLink covers three areas:
1. Patient support via a social media platform
- peer-to-peer support, user blogs, and discussion forums.
2. Patient education - information on diseases,
diabetes knowledge resources (treatment, medication, diet, everyday
life, recipes) and the opportunity to see the connection between
health goals, exercise and disease development.
3.Self-management - tools to track disease
progression, knowledge about side effects and risk factors, online
communication with health professionals.
Results
This Patient@home project combines the latest knowledge on
health behaviour, health communication, and patient education with
big data computing and data visualization to develop an intelligent
online tool. The tool will give individuals the opportunity to take
responsibility for their own health and disease through interaction
with other diabetics. The project will provide valuable knowledge
within a Danish context on the use of mobile health, big data,
social media, and online communities in the field of health.
Activity Goals
• Ethnographic user studies among Danish patients with diabetes
(type-1 and type-2)
• A Danish specification of DiabeticLink
• Development of a beta version and design of a Danish user
interface
• Testing and adjusting DiabeticLink
• Launch of the system and plan for continued operation in
Denmark
Figure 1: Smart Health and DiabeticLink Research
Source: Artificial Intelligence Lab, http://ai.arizona.edu/research/healthcare/.