Free Essay: Connections of Chronic Diseases and Socio-Dynamic Cues

Abstract: Chronic disease requires healthy patient behavior to follow the care plan which becomes very vital if the patient has multiple chronic conditions and disability. Integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and focal healthcare business models provide high-grade answers to achieve adherence to a care plan to overcome socioeconomic costs and improve the workforce. Analysis of the socio-dynamic cues (SDC) among different regions and interpretation models for data gathering through the ICT infrastructure can assist in better diagnosis, treatment, finding relevance between chronic diseases among regions of the world, and the extent to which a patient follows the care plan with optimization strategies. The paper highlights that technology trust and implementation require regulations as well as a multidisciplinary approach in all sectors as a deciding element for care plan adherence as well as shows how to make connections among diseases with a preliminary framework to develop a business model which is more efficient for assistive technological devices and eHealth applications.

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Keywords: Chronic diseases connections, data mining, Socio-dynamic cues, behavioral modifications, Stakeholders involvement, ICT, care plan adherence, interpretation models.

Introduction

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are not interchangeable from one person to another person, for example, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases etc. These diseases are also referred to as chronic diseases that need lifetime stagnancy for treatment. Many factors contribute to their occurrence that including environmental, our genetic material, and some could be physiological. In contrast, others depend on the behavior of the particular patient to follow a care plan or lifestyle choices. Pieces of evidence show that 15 million of the deaths related to NCDs happen between the ages of 30-69 years [1].

Risk factors are the main elements that induce or further intensify chronic disease condition. These can also be the primary factors to initiate another chronic disease condition in connection to a primary chronic disease. Risk factors can be behavioural or biological risk factors. Behavioural risk factors are unhealthy food choices, more use of alcohol, tobacco use and physical inactivity. These risk factors can be modified if the patient is motivated to eliminate or reduce them by self-effort. The biological risk factors are elevated blood pressure, glucose level, cholesterol level or obesity etc. These mentioned risk factors are the primary cause of death or related disabilities among the people in the globe [2]. Prevention is the only solution that can guarantee good health physically as well as mentally.

In Europe, deaths caused by NCDs cost EUR 115 billion Per year [3]. Although due to the latest advancement in technology and health care system setups the overall life expectancy has been increased, this has also increased the survival rate of the ageing population moving through chronic diseases. Socioeconomic cost is the primary area that needed to be addressed, as it would be necessary for the future that patients having chronic diseases should be consistent with the treatment plan. Irregularities or behavioral fluctuation can lead to higher cost. Socioeconomic status is also one of the predicting factors for the development of the risk factors that can initiate chronic disease. Low socioeconomic status and low education rate can also determine the prevalence of chronic diseases. Danish healthcare is one of the highly ranked systems in the world. Accordingly, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies1 report- 2017, Denmark is ranked eighth for the percentage of grownups reported to be in good health, and seventh for spending on healthcare [4].

However, there are several healthcare issues, which are the country's biggest worries. As per the same report, cancer, cardiovascular, and ischemic heart diseases remain the leading cause of death in Denmark. Additionally, depression and musculoskeletal problems are among the leading indicators of poor health in Denmark. Apart from the EU, Denmark is also a keen player in funding several projects to modify the healthcare paradigm. One aspect of such transformation is the integration of healthcare and ICT; as a result, Denmark enjoys a great use of ICT in healthcare. Besides treating illness, another significant Danish healthcare expense is for rehabilitation and caregiving, and several research projects, either concluded, in progress or commenced, is cantered to this context. This paper examines how ICT Integrated solutions with business modeling can help to improve well-being.

The article has six parts. Section 1: describes the introduction, section 2 tells about the connection between chronic diseases and their impact on society. Section 3 explains Denmark strategies for digital health care and section 4 tells about the importance of health care business models. Section 5 illustrates how ICT can help in care plan adherence with possible approaches, and section 6 presents the conclusion and eventually references at the end of the paper.

2. Relevance of Multi-Chronic Diseases and Importance of the Care Plan

Chronic disease has many adverse effects on the health of the patient and daily activities. Risk factors could be the same if a patient has multiple chronic diseases. What is required here is to implement a care plan that can assist patients in numerous ways to avoid the severity of chronic disease into numerous chronic diseases. Lousy lifestyle behaviours and multiple chronic diseases can vary the quality of health and life of the patient. The care plan should cover the common adverse effects as well as risk factors for chronic disease for overall improvement. If one risk factor that can lead to one or two chronic diseases afterwards, it is essential to eliminate such a risk factor. Some of the common side effects are given below in case of multiple chronic diseases

• Associated Depression
• Decrease Quality of life
• Long term therapy
• Require a persistent approach both at patient, doctor and service provider level
• Lifestyle modification = healthy habits Development
• Motivation
• Poverty Issues
• The social, economic and emotional burden
• Commitment and trust in technology and the health care team

Care Plan Non-Adherence and Impact on Society

Morbidity and Mortality with chronic diseases have a significant impact on the overall social progress. The life span expectancy has been increased for the past 40 years in the 28 countries of Europe. The 3.2 years of life span increase in males and 2.5 years in females during the period of 2003-2013 have been observed [6]. The increase, as mentioned above, is not healthy in life expectancy. At the age of 65, only a few are enjoying life with good health, while others have multiple chronic diseases with decreased quality of life. The decreasing quality of life and increased life expectancy can lead to several problems.

• Increase socio-economic cost (Burden on the Government and municipalities)
• Less availability of Workforce
• Increasing aged population
• Decreased social engagement and involvement in activities as a productive citizen

Chronic diseases are a global constraint on health and economics, and they cause the premature death of more than 550.000 (25-64 year) each year in EU countries. These deaths dissipate 3.4 million productive life years, considering if these people are employed until the age of 65 years with the same employment rate as the rate of rest population.

They are considering the Annual income of ordinary EU workers as €33800. Then the amount leads to the expense of EU economics €115 billion or GDP of 0.8 annually. Patients face a challenge to adhere to the care plan as it is challenging to develop new habits or lifestyle modification.

Societal Factors and Non-Adherence

New innovative solutions guided by ICT are available for care plan adherence and lifestyle modification, especially in the case of multiple chronic diseases. These technology-based solutions can reduce the common side effects and can increase the quality of life of the patient and overall health [8].

1. Acceptability of innovative technologies
2. eHealth literacy
3. Cultural and Religious Beliefs
4. Slower to adopt
5. Technology easy to use
6. Difficulty in learning, reading due to disability
7. Skeptical attitude
8. Attitude => interest and willingness to invest
9. Less social network
10. User-friendly ICT solutions are required
11. Consultation at all levels
12. Concept of blended staff for multipurpose tasks
13. Deployment of solutions related to technologies for sustainability
14. Perceptions about health, illness and death?
15. Beliefs about the causation of the disease?
16. Access to health promotion ideas?
17. How is disease felt and experienced by an individual?
18. Where do patients seek help and preferences?
19. What types of treatment do patients prefer?
20. Availability of user-friendly solutions?