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Make a choice drs. E. Metting Valentina Gallo Vasco Ferreira

Project properties

Title	Comprehensive map of eHealth hardware tools to assess neurological function for research - a systematic review
Keywords	epidemiology Ehealth Systematic Review
Researchers	drs. E. Metting Valentina Gallo Vasco Ferreira
Type of project	TTT project (year 1) of Stage Wetenschap / Researchproject
Nature of the research	Systematic review on tools to assess neurological symptoms and signs for research (Epidemiological, neurological research)
Fields of study	epidemiology neurology

Background / introduction

Information technology has achieved a progressively more prominent role in the medical field, due to rising opportunities in technology [1]. The tools derived are collectively referred to as electronic health techniques, or eHealth, in short. eHealth showed to have a number of advantages for healthcare, improving assessment and intervention, closing physical distance between patient and clinician, and contributing to research [1,2]. The majority of the application of eHealth tools are in the field of diagnostic or disease management [3]. Nonetheless, some are also extremely relevant for research purposes, too. In particular those eHealth applications which can measure clinical data outside the hospital setting and without necessarily relying on highly specialized healthcare personnel are of particular interest for epidemiological studies. Population-based epidemiological studies often require the measurement of clinical and personal characteristics on large cohorts of participants, and eHealth tools can contribute to extending data collection in hard to reach populations or low-income settings with scarce resources available [4]. In this project, we propose the development of a Systematic Review on eHealth, in which the student will be awarded with co-authorship of the paper (position to be discussed in function of contribution). Among the many applications available to be used for data collection, those investigating possible neurological disorders are of particular interest, due to the fact that clinical assessment of such disorders often requires high-specialized equipment and trained personnel (i.e. a CT scan and other devices, a neurologist) [5].

Research question / problem definition

The aim is to conduct a systematic review, providing a comprehensive map of hardware (e.g. wearable) eHealth tools that assess neurological signs and symptoms. The uncovering of risks and protective factors for neurological diseases is still ongoing [6]. This is of particular importance given that a cure has not been found for the majority of neurological diseases, thus prevention remains the only way of reducing their burden at population level. Large population-based studies, in particular those using innovative eHealth resources, may be the key to successfully uncover those risk factors. In order to maximise the implementation of eHealth tools in the field of neuroepidemiology, it is important to map all devices measuring or assessing neurological functions or symptoms to be potentially used as research tools. This project outlines the available tools to collect neurological data.

Workplan

A first systematic review of software eHealth tools that assess neurological signs and symptoms is already in progress and can serve as basis for this second review. The student is expected to familiarise him-herself with the process of conducting a systematic review. For this project, the paper searches have already been performed in multiple search engines (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus & EBSCOHost), and the papers have been selected (see above). At this point in the review, the student should go through the process of data extraction from each of the paper. Data extraction will be done according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria (e.g. eHealth tools for research purposes vs clinical). The data will then be summarised into a mapping review, describing the different properties of each eHealth tool identified (i.e., outcome assessed, validation, limitations...). By the end of the project, the student is expected to have produced a full Systematic Review on hardware eHealth tools ready to be published.

References

[1] Eysenbach G. What is e-health? J Med Internet Res 2001;3:E20. doi:10.2196/jmir.3.2.e20 [2] From innovation to implementation – eHealth in the WHO European Region (2016). https://www.euro.who.int/en/publications/abstracts/from-innovation-to-implementation-ehealth-in-the-who-european-region-2016 (accessed 11 Feb 2022). [3] Steele Gray C, Miller D, Kuluski K, et al. Tying eHealth Tools to Patient Needs: Exploring the Use of eHealth for Community-Dwelling Patients With Complex Chronic Disease and Disability. JMIR Res Protoc 2014;3:e67. doi:10.2196/resprot.3500 [4] Archer N, Lokker C, Ghasemaghaei M, et al. eHealth Implementation Issues in Low-Resource Countries: Model, Survey, and Analysis of User Experience. J Med Internet Res 2021;23:e23715. doi:10.2196/23715 [5] McLane HC, Berkowitz AL, Patenaude BN, et al. Availability, accessibility, and affordability of neurodiagnostic tests in 37 countries. Neurology 2015;85:1614–22. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000002090 [8] Mentis A-FA, Dardiotis E, Efthymiou V, et al. Non-genetic risk and protective factors and biomarkers for neurological disorders: a meta-umbrella systematic review of umbrella reviews. BMC Medicine 2021;19:6. doi:10.1186/s12916-020-01873-7