GERONTE Consortium funded to value of €5.9 million
(18th January 2022) UCD School of Medicine is pleased to announce its participation in the Horizon 2020 Funded GERONTE (Streamlined GERiatric and ONcological evaluation based on IC TEchnology for holistic patient-oriented healthcare management for older multimorbid patients).
The overall aim of GERONTE is to improve Quality of Life (QoL) which in this context is defined as well-being on three levels : global health status, physical functioning and social functioning- for older multimorbid patients, while reducing overall costs of care. To achieve this, GERONTE will co-design, test, and prepare for deployment an innovative cost-effective patient-centred holistic health management system, hereafter referred to as the GERONTE intervention.
UCD involvement in GERONTE is led by Dr Shane O Hanlon, Clinical Associate Professor at UCD School of Medicine and Consultant Geriatrician, St Vincent’s University Hospital and St Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown, Dublin.
Speaking about his role as PI (Principal Investigator) Dr O’Hanlon said ‘The heterogeneity of older patients in terms of health status, physical functioning and intrinsic capacity makes their evaluation complex. In those aged 65 to 84, the proportion of patients with multimorbidity is as high as 65% and rises to 81% in those aged 85 or older. The most prevalent morbidities in patients older than 65 are arthritis, hypertension, pulmonary disease, diabetes, cancer and osteoporosis. Cardiovascular diseases are among the most frequent and the most lethal morbidities in older patients, followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and cancer.’
‘In the GERONTE study, we will work to define the core dataset of multimorbidity data required as well as a dataset of frailty data and patient preferences to be collected through comprehensive geriatric assessment. The project will run until 2026 and will aim to improve QoL for older people with multiple medical conditions and cancer, while reducing overall costs of care. The majority of cancers are diagnosed in people over 65 and treatment decisions can be challenging. So this project will examine the feasibility of regrouping all health care professionals in patient-focused individualised care coordination pathways and will test this in a clinical trial’ continued Dr O’Hanlon.
The first Journal article output from the GERONT project was published in the Journal of Geriatric Oncology and is a systematic review titled ‘Information needs of older patients newly diagnosed with cancer’. Please see Journal output HERE
Please see more on the HORIZON 2020 GERONTE project HERE