Computer-Aided Prevention System
Computer-Aided Prevention System
Stroke is one of the most frequent and life-threatening diseases in Europe. About four stroke
 events occur per day in Luxembourg alone, and about 30% of these patients are affected by
 recurrent stroke within the following five years. Thus, new methods of primary and secondary
 prevention are needed to better control lifestyle-related risk factors.

 The development and maintenance of a healthy lifestyle (smoking cessation, healthy nutrition,
 moderate physical exercises etc.) is a major objective concerning the primary and secondary
 prevention of cerebro- and cardiovascular diseases. CAPSYS is a computer-based lifestyle
 coaching system developed by researchers from the Public Research Centre (CRP) Henri Tudor in
 Luxembourg in collaboration with neurologists from the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg
 (CHL), which aims at supporting patients in performing appropriate behavior changes in order
 to minimize their individual risk factors. Patients can access CAPSYS by dialing a local-rate
 telephone number and answer to a set of previously known questions concerning their current
 nutrition, physical activity, blood pressure, smoking etc. In an interactive voice response
 approach, questions are issued by the system in natural language using text-to-speech, and
 the patient can provide the required values using the phone keypad. Based on the gathered
 values for each patient, the system automatically generates personalized verbal feedback at
 runtime and presents it to the patient during the phone dialog. Depending on the individual
 development of the patient's risk factors, the system feedback can contain advice for
 improvement, praise for healthy behavior and motivation to pursue a certain goal.

 The user acceptance and effectiveness of the CAPSYS system is evaluated in a six-month
 randomized controlled study with participants recruited at CHL's neurology department.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  At high risk of stroke:

 -  Already suffered a stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) or

 -  At least two risk factors for stroke:

 -  High blood pressure

 -  Overweight

 -  Low physical activity

 -  Smoking

 -  Unhealthy diet

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  Inability to fill out or to understand the informed consent

 -  No signed informed consent

 -  Dementia