Mobile and wearable technologies in healthcare for the ageing population
Introduction
The 16th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics (MedInfo 2017) was held August 21–25, 2017, in Hangzhou, China. Organized by the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and a premier international health and biomedical informatics event, MedInfo provides a valuable platform for sharing the latest medical and health informatics research and applications to the world's leading scientists, medical practitioners, entrepreneurs, educators, and students. On August 23, 2017, an important related topic was presented in a panel discussion entitled “Wearable technologies: Advancing the healthcare in ageing population” by panelists Shabbir Syed-Abdul, Panagiotis Bamidis, C. P. Wong, and Xinxin Zhu. Recent advances in health technologies focusing on aging population as well as their benefits and challenges were discussed, as summarized in this paper.
Section snippets
Need for mobile and wearable technologies for the older population
The prevailing socio-economic conditions affect the global elderly demographic [1]. While developed countries have found methods to facilitate a better quality of life for the older population in their countries, developing countries are struggling to cope with the medical needs and costs of this age group. Common issues in developing countries relate to the inability of the older population to support themselves past retirement, increased health issues that need to be monitored and treated, an
Wearable devices and sensors
Wearable devices and sensors are among the tools that can aid the continuous monitoring of the older population. The augmentation of entertainment, engagement, and motivational support tools will further improve conditions for a healthy and meaningful life in the ageing population. Wearable devices and sensors are the key elements for monitoring physical activity and other factors and have different uses among the ageing population. For example, the continuous monitoring of the vital
Conclusions
The phenomenon of an aging population is worldwide and its growth brings various socio-economic and health challenges in the everyday lives of the older population. To address the public health challenges of the older population, science is exploring the power of the latest technological advancements to develop solutions for the problems that accompany a global ageing population and support it in the best possible way. This article discussed the need for mobile and wearable technologies to
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgements
This research is sponsored in part by Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) under grant MOST 103-2221-E-038-014, MOST 103-2221-E-038-016, MOST 104-2221-E-038-013, MOST 104-3011-E-038-001, 106-2923-E-038-001-MY2, Health and Welfare Surcharge of Tobacco products grant MOHW104-TDU-B-212-124-001, Ministry of Education, Taiwan, under grant TMUTOP103006‐6, Taipei Medical University under grant numbers SKH-TMU-105-01 and TMU102-AE1-B31.
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