CHROMED

Clinical tRials fOr elderly patients with MultiplE Disease

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The objective of CHROMED project is to evaluate the impact of adopting a health and lifestyle status management system to support elderly patients with a combination of chronic diseases involving respiratory and cardiovascular systems. A large scale clinical trial will be implemented to develop and evaluate clinical protocols and organizational models based on the new technologies in order to improve both quality of life and healthcare costs associated with these patients. The CHROMED idea arises from a previously successful research experience in patient monitoring at home. The CHROMED project focuses its investigation on the applicability of an integrated solution for a pathological condition which: a) is very prevalent in ageing patients and b) severely impairs quality of life: COPD with other typical comorbidities such as congestive heart failure and sleep disordered breathing. An international multi-centric randomized control trial will be implemented in five European regions: United Kingdom, Sweden, Estonia, Spain and Slovenia, representing different social and organizational contexts in Europe. In each country, the participating care organizations have existing practices and procedures for age-related disease management. In CHROMED a specific ICT platform in combination with a set of both well established and innovative devices will be used to collect and process useful clinical data at the patient’s home. In particular, for each patient a set of devices will be defined considering the existing co-morbidities.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

The fourth leading cause of death, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) afflicts over 300 million people and is a huge socioeconomic burden. Telemedicine-based care models could alleviate the impact of such diseases.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Air is considered life-giving. COPD is a progressive disease involving the respiratory system that makes it difficult to breathe. To top it all, COPD is often accompanied by other co-morbidities such as chronic heart failure (CHF) and sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Needless to say, such patients have poor life expectancy as well as poor quality of life.

The EU-funded 'Clinical trials for elderly patients with multiple disease' (http://www.chromed.eu/ (CHROMED)) project is investigating the utility of telemedicine-based health care models for elderly people with COPD and cardiovascular co-morbidities.

To begin with, CHROMED members pilot-tested and optimised their information and communication technology platform. Three devices are used in this platform: a patient monitor, a lung assessment device employing forced oscillation technique, and a wearable device called Wrist Clinic to measure vital parameters.

An international multi-centric randomised control trial involving 300 patients is ongoing in Estonia, Spain, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. These European countries have different social and organisational contexts with well-established procedures for age-related disease management.

Currently 140 patients are active at the 6 pilot centres. Patients enrolled include 37 COPD cases, 27 COPD+CHF cases, 2 COPD+HF cases, 12 COPD+SDB cases and 2 COPD+CHF+SDB cases. Requisite technical assistance and training are being readily provided to ensure optimal patient outcomes.

For the first time, clinical data collection and monitoring of COPD patients with co-morbidities is being done on a daily basis. Besides elucidating COPD, project activities should help in the development of a user-friendly, customisable and effective telemedicine platform for COPD patients with cardiovascular co-morbidities.

The CHROMED platform could personalise care assistance for elderly patients with multiple diseases and improve their quality of life. This in turn will help reduce the huge socioeconomic burden of COPD and support the sustainability of European health care systems.