Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine May 2018 - 11

Cisotto and Pupolin
Table 2.

Positive Outcomes of ICT-Based Intervention on the Five Big Chronic Diseases of Our Society (Extracted by [21])
Outcome [%]

Diabetes

CVD

CRD

Cancer

Stroke

Overall

QoL

HRQoL

Mediation
adherence

Clinical
outcome

Cost efficiency

Time efficiency

Less
hospitalization

Technical
usability

Satisfaction

Safety

NOTE: Percentages refer to patients of a specific disease (columns two to six), while "overall" outcomes percentages have been
computed on the entire available sample of individuals. Rows two to five account for health-related outcomes, rows six to eight for
organizational outcomes, rows nine to eleven for technical outcomes.

Despite the strong impact that ICT is expected to bring on
healthcare, a measure which can robustly account for its benefits for the HRQoL is still lacking [20]. However, in a recent
study by Wildevuur and colleagues [21], a systematic survey
from three large databases (the Cochraine library, PubMed, and
EMBASE) showed that telemedicine systems e.g., personalized
ICT-based platforms, could provide both an increase on diseasespecific clinical outcomes and beneficial impact on organizational outcomes, such as a decrease in hospitalization and an
increase of cost efficiency (see Table 2 with some selected outcomes reported).

CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES
[1]
[2]

[3]

Quality of Life (QoL), and particularly health-related QoL
(HRQoL), can be defined as a multidisciplinary area of research,
industrial development, and healthcare that aims to achieve satisfaction in the daily life of people, especially elderly and patients.
Information and communication technology (ICT) represents a
promising framework that could strongly help in achieving a largescale solution for the improving HRQoL. Indeed, recent advancements in nanotechnology (sensors miniaturization), communication and network protocols (5G and IoT) as well as smart analytics
(machine learning) could push far forward healthcare, reaching
an increasing number of at-risk individuals, reducing, at the same
time, the health-related costs that hospitals and healthcare institutions have to sustain.
The main future directions for improving ICT-based HRQoL
strongly rely on the integration of different solutions and expertise,
MAY - JUNE 2018

with the concurrent standardization of technologies and protocols
among different health service providers. Finally, the construction
of a proper global healthcare ecosystem business model could reliably evaluate the impact of ICT onto HRQoL, both in terms of
clinical outcomes and economic sustainability.

[4]
[5]

[6]

[7]

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

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