Data driven decision-making and support system for the early detection of phase changes in bipolar disorder (BipoCare)

Bipolar disorder is a common yet severe mental illness that causes disproportionately high direct and indirect costs alongside the immense stress for those with the condition. Characterised by recurrent phases of depression and mania with episodes that require inpatient treatment occurring almost yearly, bipolar disorder carries a large cost both to society and the individual suffering the ailment.
Consequently, phase prophylaxis, or the prevention of new phases becomes the foremost therapeutic objective. The most significant shortcomings of the current model of care remain the absence of continuous therapy monitoring - essential for early recognition of new phases - and the lack of decision-making and support systems for continuous therapy monitoring to allow the prompt recognition and treatment of new phases.

Thanks to its data-based approach, the BipoCare project enables a fundamental improvement in patient care, a reduction in the number of inpatient treatment days, a significant reduction in costs and a lasting improvement in the quality of life of those affected.

The aim of the project is to close the largest gap in care for bipolar disorders with a data-based decision-making and support system.
Project stepps:

- Develop data-based algorithms/prediction models on the basis of existing data

- Integrate the data into an existing software framework that enables the MDR (Medical Device Regulation) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliant execution of these algorithms

- Transferring the data into an MDR-compliant therapy system that continuously records and analyses the patient's communication, activity and sleep behaviour and notifies the practitioner in the event of an impending phase change so that they can intervene promptly to adapt the treatment; and

- Involve relevant stakeholders in advance in order to optimise the future treatment outcomes

As the coordinator of BipoCare and thanks to the TherapyDesigner platform,movisens is an indispensable partner in this research project. The TherapyDesigner platform is the technological and regulatory basis of BipoCare. It not only enables the creation and evaluation of studies and interventions, but also the necessary documentation for transferring the study into a medical device compliant therapy system i.e. into a digital health application.