HeartCycle · Compliance and effectiveness in HF and CHD closed-loop management

Each year Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) causes over 1.9 million deaths in the EU, causing direct health costs of €105 billion. Coronary Heart Disease (CHD), half of all CVD deaths, is the single most cause of death in Europe. Heart Failure (HF) – a CHD being the most frequent cause of hospitalization for people over 65 – has 10 million patients in the EU. Current treatment of HF entails recommendations from clinicians on medication, diet and lifestyle. Patients only receive feedback at doctors visits, or when facing symptoms. Daily monitoring, close follow up, and help on treatment routine is lacking. Non-adherence to the treatment regime is a major cause of suboptimal clinical benefit.HeartCycle will provide a closed-loop disease management solution to serve both HF and CHD patients, including hypertension, diabetes and arrhythmias as possible co-morbidities. This will be achieved by multi-parametric monitoring of vital signs, analysing the data and providing automated decision support, to derive therapy recommendations.The system will contain a patient loop interacting directly with the patient to support the daily treatment. It will show the health development, including treatment adherence and effectiveness. Being motivated, compliance will increase, and health will improve. The system will also contain a professional loop involving medical professionals, e.g. alerting to revisit the care plan. The patient loop is connected with hospital information systems, to ensure optimal and personalised care.Europe's health system is undergoing radical changes due to an aging population. It's moving from reactive towards preventative care, and from hospital care to care at home. Tomorrow's patients will become more empowered to take their health into their own hands. New ICT is required to enable this paradigm shift.HeartCycle, coordinated by Philips – leading in electronics and health care –, includes experts on textiles, ICT, decision support and user interaction.