Healthbit’s dementia app is the world’s first clinically evidenced app for patients with mild dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and their carers.

Evidenced through a ground-breaking randomised control trial (RCT), the app has been shown to benefit people living with dementia and their carers in a number of ways.  The RCT was conducted over a 2 year period, across 4 sites in 3 countries and involved over 1000 people living with dementia and their carers.

The clinical data concluded multiple benefits, including;

  • Significant improvement in Quality of Life for the person living with dementia

  • Significant reduction in carer stress and depression

  • The more the application is used, the greater the positive impact

Background

There are 47.5 million people with dementia worldwide with over 9 million living with the condition across Europe. The annual estimated cost of dementia exceeds $600 billion every year and is increasing.
In 2015, Healthbit® joined a dynamic consortium of 11 international partners to deliver a technology designed to help improve the quality of life for people with mild dementia. The consortium was made up of partners that included, Alzheimer Europe, clinical partners in three countries (Spain, Sweden, Belgium) and academic partners, including Anglia Ruskin University. The project was named SMART4MD – Support Monitoring and Reminder Technology for Mild Dementia.
As well as improving quality of life, secondary goals of the project included increasing treatment compliance and reducing missed appointments and hospital re-admissions amongst other goals.
Healthbit has been refining and redeploying its proprietary health management technology so that it is much more accessible to older users living with the condition. Core to the application is a daily planner that aids users with the planning of their daily activities and pushes visual reminders to take their medicines and attend appointments. Useful information resources and mind stimulation games are also available as well as a photo directory of contacts.
Healthbit’s platform has been designed so that it can interface directly with third-party clinical systems over a secure API, resulting in the dementia app being the first third-party App to have integrated with the public healthcare system in the south of Spain, working with Servicio Andaluz de Salud (the Andalusian Health Service). This public body provides all healthcare services to the 8.4 million inhabitants in Andalusia.
After a series of successful feasibility studies, and a clinical trial of the technology our dementia app is on the cusp of being deployed to support the dementia crisis.
The SMART4MD project was co-financed by the European Union under an EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation – Horizon 2020.
“To date, there have been a number of interesting developments in applications to support people with cognitive decline. However, due to mostly small-scale trials, any impact has been difficult to establish, although the individuals often perceived them as beneficial. The much-needed SMART4MD study, with its randomised controlled design, provided an opportunity to demonstrate a positive impact on clinical parameters and on people’s wellbeing.”
Professor Johan Sanmartin Berglund, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden

Study

A pragmatic, multi-centre RCT following the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT). The ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03325699.

Setting

Four participant centres: Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa (Catalonia, Spain), Servicio Andaluz de Salud (Andalusia, Spain), Blekinge Institute of Technology (Sweden), and University College Leuven-Limburg (Belgium).

Useful Links

SMART4MD Project Website
Alzheimer Europe