b'Partner News Summer 2023 13AcademicROBUST project:It is expected that the estimated annual number of osteoporotic fractures between 2019 and 2034 will increase to 1.06 million fractures (+24.8%). Associated complications Ubiquitous eHealthin fracture recovery, such as delayed healing and non-unions, i.e., fractures that do not heal within the expected typical time or Solution for Fractureat all, occur in 5 to 10% of the cases. The consequences of such complications include higher costs, not only for the patient but also for taxpayers and society in general. OrthopaedicTo address such an emerging issue in our ageing society, the multidisciplinary ROBUST consortium H2020 project combines Rehabilitationthe expertise and broad experience of the participating partners (Instituto de Telecomunicaes, University of Bradford, University of Patras, Evotel and PDM&FC) in various domains, in order to develop a new concept and platform for remote monitoring By Raed Abd-Alhameed, John Buckley, Maryanne Hardyof patients healing process: an integrated and Rami Qahwaji at the University of Bradford mobile eHealth system, able to respond promptly to dynamic and complex situations, while preserving control, safety and privacy, in a reliable and energy-efficient manner.The population in Europe, and worldwide, is living increasingly longer and healthier lives.The project intends to develop a customised Which is in itself a significant achievement,energy-efficient Body Area Network however the reality of an ageing population(BAN), including sensors of different types, also raises major economic, financial andconnected to a cloud-based platform social challenges, with working life tending toenabling further mobile applications in the become longer and the pension entitlementhealthcare sector. The platform will comply age higher.with crucial requirements such as safety, security, privacy and low power consumption, With one in four persons living in Europeassuring end-to-end security and patients estimated to be 65 or above by 2050, theprivacy and the secure transmission and greater expectancy of life is posing seriousstorage of sensitive data, namely through challenges to healthcare systems, namelyencryption and other schemes. through the associated increased incidence of various diseases and other ailments andThe research and innovation actions within health conditions which, in some cases,ROBUST will cover the associated value chain derive from injuries to which the elderly arebroadly, including:most prone. Sensors (hardware and embedded One such condition is bone fracture affectingsoftware) with integrated data in a mobile the lower extremities of the body, whichaggregator;can typically occur as a consequence ofUse case-centred smart mobile eHealth age-related conditions such as osteoporosis.system including healthcare providers and In fact, each year the number of peopleoperators;suffering from a fracture in one of their lowerComplete ICT platform with replicable extremities, namely leg- and hip-fracturesWith one in four persons livingarchitectural design and specifications, keeps increasing.in Europe estimated to be including reliable and secure cloud middleware to facilitate further use of According to Epidemiology, Burden and65 or above by 2050, the mobile systems in the healthcare sector;Treatment of Osteoporosis for 29 Europeangreater expectancy of life isEnd-user-driven demonstration of open countries (2021), the estimated number ofreference platform for tele-rehabilitation.fractures and percentage of people agedposing serious challenges50+ with a prior hip fracture in 2019 wereto healthcare systems. The research team members wish to thank around 3.22 million fractures and 1.5% of thethe financial support from the UKRI and the population aged 50+ respectively. European Commission.'