STT Systems, together with a group of Basque companies formed by Grupo Init, Aurrerantz (Grupo SSI), Athlon, and the collaborating entities of the RVCTI (Kronikgune, Tecnalia and Home Care Lab), along with the Social Action Department of the Bilbao City Council, are developing the FRAGICARE project. This initiative consists of a technological platform for the management of frailty in elderly people living at home.
Maykel Alonso, PhD from the University of Navarra and Director of Innovation at the San Sebastián-based company, highlights: “It is no surprise that the Basque Country is heading towards a demographic scenario in which the need for social and healthcare support for older people will continue to grow.” The data supports this view, and the situation is expected to worsen as life expectancy increases. Within this context, the concept of frailty is introduced: a pre-disability condition, involving the risk of developing a disability or functional decline. It is a strong predictor of short-, medium- and long-term adverse health events.
Preventing disability by addressing frailty is possible, since it can be detected and is subject to intervention. Early identification and evidence-based action can enable frailty to be managed, or even reversed, improving quality of life and wellbeing for older adults.
With this combination of factors and circumstances, the FRAGICARE consortium was created. It aims to provide a technological platform for the management of frailty in people over 70 years of age who are users of the Home Help Service (SAD). This platform makes it possible to identify frail or pre-frail individuals, prescribe activities to encourage healthy lifestyles and monitor their completion.
STT Systems‘ contribution focuses on human motion analysis in the context of managing frailty in older adults. STT Systems already has biomechanical analysis systems mainly linked to sport and clinical research. Now, it has shifted its focus to ageing and the study of elderly people. To do this, the company uses its own inertial sensors, STT-IWS. These sensors are attached to various parts of the body and are capable of measuring, among other parameters, the accelerations at each location. After processing the data, a set of values and metrics can be obtained, such as cadence, exercise duration, speed, and so on.
The system proposed by STT Systems, with the help of the consortium, seeks to automate and streamline measurement tasks. This would allow measurements to be taken more frequently, as currently they are usually only carried out during six-monthly medical follow-ups. As Maykel Alonso explains: “Until now, these kinds of tests were carried out with a stopwatch in hand and based on the examiner’s perception, who also has to pay attention to many other things. Our technology enables a tool that performs the measurements, saves time and, together with the FRAGICARE platform, allows continuous monitoring and even the triggering of alerts for the early detection of pre-frail conditions. In the long term, this means improving quality of life in old age.” The challenge is to maintain autonomy and independence as people age, bearing in mind that the health of older adults should be measured in terms of function, not illness. This function should enable the highest possible level of autonomy in each individual case.
The FRAGICARE project (co-financed by the Hazitek programme of the Basque Government) was created to develop both a technological platform and a management model that involves the patient and their family. It also requires coordination between the social care and healthcare systems. The application will allow both systems to carry out more regular and continuous follow-up of patients over time by monitoring the evolution of their parameters.
This data provides valuable information for designing and deploying tailored plans for each person, including recommendations on healthy habits, personalised information on frailty, intelligent alerts and more. FRAGICARE ensures that the person truly becomes the centre of attention, with the whole system revolving around their needs.
Furthermore, the platform includes a gamification module that will allow patients to compete with each other to increase motivation and treatment adherence. Once again, it becomes clear that technology offers tools to solve current social challenges. It also helps to empower individuals in their own care and to make them more responsible for their own health.