Telemedicine to Monitor Elderly Patients with Chronic Diseases, with a Special Focus on Patients with Chronic Heart Failure Emmanuel Andrès 1,2* , Samy Talha 3 , Mohamed Hajjam 4 , Jawad Hajjam 5 , Sylvie Ervé 5 and Amir Hajjam 6 1 Service de Médecine Interne, Diabète et Maladies métaboliques de la Clinique Médicale B, CHRU de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France 2 Centre de Recherche Pédagogique en Sciences de la Santé, Faculté de Médecine de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg (UdS), Strasbourg, France 3 Service de Physiologie et d’Explorations fonctionnelles, CHRU et Faculté de Médecine de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg (UdS), Strasbourg, France 4 Engineering and IT company, Newel, Mulhouse, France 5 Centre d'Expertise des TIC pour l'autonomie (CenTich) et Mutualité Française Anjou-Mayenne (MFAM), Angers, France 6 Laboratoire IRTES-SeT, Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard (UTBM), Belfort-Montbéliard, France * Corresponding author: Emmanuel Andrès, Service de Médecine Interne, Diabète et Maladies métaboliques de la Clinique Médicale B, CHRU de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Tel: 33388116768; E-mail: emmanuel.andres@chru-strasbourg.fr Rec Date: May 13, 2016, Acc Date: Jun 01, 2016, Pub Date: Jun 03, 2016 Copyright: © 2016 Andrès E, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited Abstract Chronic diseases are one of the most difficult challenges to the beginning of the twentieth century. Monitoring patients with chronic diseases, especially in chronic heart failure or diabetes mellitus, using telemedicine systems is a potential means for optimizing the management of these patients, even in elderly patients. The e-care project is developing an “intelligent” communicative platform enabling the home monitoring of patients with heart failure, using non-invasive sensors, with additional contextual information and patients’ profile. As a result, this platform will assist health care professionals by providing an automated processing of these sensors’ transmitted data in order to detect and report signs of cardiac decompensation early or wrong adherence to therapy. Keywords: Telemedicine; Chronic disease; Elderly patients; Heart failure; Detecting signs of cardiac decompensation Chronic Diseases One of the greatest challenges that will face health care professionals to the beginning of the twentieth century will be the increasing burden of chronic diseases. Greater longevity, modifcation of lifestyles and exposure to chronic disease risk factors (e.g. inactivity, tobacco, too rich and greasy food…), and the growing ability to intervene to keep people alive that previously would have died has combined to change the burden of diseases confronting health systems [1]. Chronic diseases can have a profound impact on the health and quality of life of elderlies, not to mention the fnancial burden that is ofen associated with long-term illness. Tese chronic diseases or disorders are defned by the World Health Organization (WHO) as requiring “ongoing management over a period of years or decades” and cover a wide range of health problems [2]. In Europe, the OMS provides an “epidemic” of chronic diseases in the next 20 years. Te four main expected chronic diseases are: heart failure (HF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cognitive disorders (as Alzheimer’s disease) and cancers. Other disorders may also be observed in the future as diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension, renal failure and anemia. Four chronic diseases: heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes currently cause almost two- thirds of all deaths each year in the United States. About 80% of older adults have at least one chronic disease, and 68% have at least two. Increased life expectancy generates changes in the leading causes of morbidity and mortality with more than 70% attributable to chronic diseases [3]. More than 15 million patients today contract such diseases and the expected fgure amounts to 20 million by 2020. Telemedicine To our experience, these conditions require a complex response, taken into account several conditions in the same patients, over an extended time period that involves coordinated inputs from a wide range of health professionals and access to essential medicines and monitoring systems, all of which need to be optimally embedded within a system that promotes patient empowerment and home support. In response to the emerging challenge posed by chronic diseases, several countries have experimented with new models of healthcare delivery that can achieve better coordination of services across the continuum of care [1,3]. Telemedicine may ofer a promising system in such patients with chronic diseases, especially in frailty or too good condition patients [3]. Tis is particularly the case in chronic conditions in which early detection of impairment and/or complication may be detected. A lot of the sickness, disability and even death associated with chronic disease can be avoided through preventive measures and telemedicine and telemonitoring. Moreover when an older person is diagnosed with a chronic condition, there is an immediate feeling of facing a loss of freedom and autonomy, a sense that his or her days of living independently at home are numbered. Telemedicine system ofers the possibility of a high patient quality of life at home. Nevertheless, the results of telemonitoring studies and meta- analyses have been controversial. In reviews assessing these methods, telemedicine approaches range from computer-based support systems Andrès, et al., J Gerontol Geriatr Res 2016, 5:3 DOI: 10.4172/2167-7182.1000311 Review Article Open Access J Gerontol Geriatr Res ISSN:2167-7182 JGGR, an open access journal Volume 5 • Issue 3 • 1000311 J o u r n a l o f G e r o n t o l o g y & G e r i a t r i c R e s e a r c h ISSN: 2167-7182 Journal of Gerontology & Geriatric Research