Multimodal digital avatar tools for early diagnosis of dementia in municipalities

The aim of the project is to develop a personalized digital tool to be able to diagnose dementia earlier. This can provide better health services in the municipalities. Dementia is a major challenge for public health. With an aging population, the extent of dementia and the burden on society will only increase. - Norwegian municipalities have challenges in handling the volume of patients with dementia. We want to make it possible for municipal health services to meet the rising demand for early diagnosis of dementia. The project is about improving the diagnosis and treatment of dementia and other conditions in the elderly that affect their memory, thinking capacity and ability to carry out daily activities. - With our project, we want to shorten the time from when the patient or relatives start to worry about dementia until they have a precise diagnosis to deal with. Then we can reduce both time and worries for the patient and their relatives. - An earlier and more precise diagnosis leads to faster intervention and a more personalized healthcare service. The aim of the AgeCare project is to develop a digital tool to more easily prevent and diagnose dementia in the municipalities. - Previous research based on genetic data and brain imaging has suggested that we can use advanced mathematical models and artificial intelligence for this. In this project, the researchers will therefore combine large amounts of data from Norwegian health registers and biobanks, together with technology from machine learning. We will then develop a user-friendly clinical digital tool that the municipalities can use in their healthcare services.

While big data and novel analytical tools, including artificial intelligence, have a tremendous impact on society, their use in the healthcare sector has been modest. The rising number of people with dementia and the advent of new treatment alternatives demanding earlier diagnosis with higher precision is an increasing challenge to our healthcare system in municipalities. We will address significant technological shortcomings in today's situation, the lack of accurate big data models due to small training samples has limited the development of accurate prediction models, and the substantial gap between research settings and validated tools used in the clinic. A significant bottleneck is the time consuming and complex diagnostic procedures of early dementia disease. We will develop novel, integrated technology to address these shortcomings: First, based on massive samples from biobanks, registries and brain MRI data, we will develop mathematical models for the prediction of dementia age of onset with the accuracy needed for health care diagnosis (Digital Avatar). Secondly, we will produce a scalable e-health solution for data integration and digital interface for decision support and communicating risk assessment (AD-Cockpit). We will integrate municipality health care providers in the development, and test the solution in municipalities, adapting to ethical input and user involvement. The tool will improve the diagnosis of dementia with sufficient quality for precision medicine demands, adapted to each patient’s needs. The innovative technological solution has the potential to transform health care by paving the way for big data tools enabling precision medicine approaches, including primary healthcare. Building on collaboration between industry, municipalities, and healthcare providers, we will use dementia as a use case to develop technological systems that can be rapidly implemented in real-world settings and scaled to other health areas and societal needs.