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Wong-Lin K, McClean PL, McCombe N, Kaur D, Sanchez-Bornot JM, Gillespie P, Todd S, Finn DP, Joshi A, Kane J, McGuinness B. Shaping a data-driven era in dementia care pathway through computational neurology approaches. BMC Med 2020; 18:398. [PMID: 33323116 PMCID: PMC7738245 DOI: 10.1186/s12916-020-01841-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Dementia is caused by a variety of neurodegenerative diseases and is associated with a decline in memory and other cognitive abilities, while inflicting an enormous socioeconomic burden. The complexity of dementia and its associated comorbidities presents immense challenges for dementia research and care, particularly in clinical decision-making. MAIN BODY Despite the lack of disease-modifying therapies, there is an increasing and urgent need to make timely and accurate clinical decisions in dementia diagnosis and prognosis to allow appropriate care and treatment. However, the dementia care pathway is currently suboptimal. We propose that through computational approaches, understanding of dementia aetiology could be improved, and dementia assessments could be more standardised, objective and efficient. In particular, we suggest that these will involve appropriate data infrastructure, the use of data-driven computational neurology approaches and the development of practical clinical decision support systems. We also discuss the technical, structural, economic, political and policy-making challenges that accompany such implementations. CONCLUSION The data-driven era for dementia research has arrived with the potential to transform the healthcare system, creating a more efficient, transparent and personalised service for dementia.
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Affiliation(s)
- KongFatt Wong-Lin
- Intelligent Systems Research Centre, School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems, Ulster University, Magee Campus, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK.
| | - Paula L McClean
- Northern Ireland Centre for Stratified Medicine, Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Ulster University, Magee Campus, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - Niamh McCombe
- Intelligent Systems Research Centre, School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems, Ulster University, Magee Campus, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - Daman Kaur
- Northern Ireland Centre for Stratified Medicine, Biomedical Sciences Research Institute, Ulster University, Magee Campus, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - Jose M Sanchez-Bornot
- Intelligent Systems Research Centre, School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems, Ulster University, Magee Campus, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - Paddy Gillespie
- Health Economics and Policy Analysis Centre, Discipline of Economics, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
| | - Stephen Todd
- Altnagelvin Area Hospital, Western Health and Social Care Trust, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - David P Finn
- Pharmacology and Therapeutics, School of Medicine, Galway Neuroscience Centre, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
| | - Alok Joshi
- Intelligent Systems Research Centre, School of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems, Ulster University, Magee Campus, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - Joseph Kane
- School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Institute for Health Sciences, Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - Bernadette McGuinness
- School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Institute for Health Sciences, Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
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