Prevention of Dementia using Mobile Phone Apps (PRODEMOS)

Background

The projected steep rise in global dementia prevalence will largely occur in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) and vulnerable populations in high-income countries (HIC). Up to 30% of all dementia is attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors. Mobile Health (mHealth) technology allows for scalable and widely implementable prevention programs using self-management for improvement of dementia risk factors. PRODEMOS builds on an existing eHealth intervention that will be adapted to an mHealth platform for dementia prevention, specifically tailored to vulnerable populations in HIC and LMIC, and will be implemented in multiple settings to pave the way towards a scalable, global strategy for dementia risk reduction.

Aims

To make dementia prevention strategies accessible to populations in LMIC and vulnerable populations in HIC using mobile health technology.

Project plan

We aimed to build upon the operational ‘Healthy Ageing Through Internet Counselling in the Elderly’ eHealth platform for self-management of risk factors for dementia and cardiovascular disease. Within vulnerable populations in HIC and in LMIC we aimed to assess barriers and facilitators to adapt the existing eHealth platform to a culturally appropriate mHealth (smartphone) platform for self-management of dementia risk factors.
We aimed to use a blended care approach with participants receiving remote personalized support by a health coach to improve their lifestyle and actively reduce their risk of dementia.
The adapted mHealth platform was to be evaluated in a randomised implementation trial in 2400 older people at increased risk of dementia in China and a vulnerable population with low SES in UK.
Main outcomes were implementation outcomes such as acceptability, feasibility and sustainability of our mHealth intervention, costs, and effectiveness on dementia risk reduction.

Impact

The PRODEMOS project adapted an existing eHealth intervention to an mHealth platform for dementia prevention that was specifically tailored to vulnerable populations. The inervention has been implemented in multiple settings in the UK and China and learnings from the implementation process are paving the way towards a scalable strategy for dementia risk reduction.

Publications and output

You may visit the project website for more information.