Some people suffer from severe chronic diseases – but professional care is limited. When digital humans become more than avatars, they can guide and motivate patients and relieve healthcare systems stretched to their limits. A new way to make care more accessible and sustainable.
When technology starts to care
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (or COPD) is an incurable disease that slowly takes your breath away – literally. It’s a chronic lung condition that makes it hard to breathe. For people living with COPD, something as simple as walking across a room, climbing stairs, or laughing with a friend can feel like running a marathon.
Why is that? Because the lungs gradually lose their elasticity. The airways become narrow and inflamed. Over time, the sensation of not getting enough air becomes part of everyday life.
COPD patients will eventually die from the disease – if not from something else. Over one-in-three have severe depression. Many suffer from anxiety and fear leaving their homes. They seclude themselves and step back from society. Tragically, for some, the disease ends as they feared: dying alone from suffocation.
Reducing hospital visits and improving quality of life
In response to these challenges, Denmark’s Region of Zealand launched an experiment. Over five years, COPD patients’ breathing data was digitally monitored at home, allowing their individual treatments to be adjusted accordingly. With remarkable results: hospitalization rates dropped by 50%.
Participants reported feeling more confident, more cared for, and more socially active. Seeing their own health condition on-screen and being reminded to do their exercises made a real difference in how they lived.
However, most COPD patients are plus 60 years old and face barriers when it comes to using digital tools or home equipment. This meant that merely one third of the patients were able to participate in the project. That is where the idea of a digital human came in.
