CHRONOS is a project to develop an efficient medical device that helps evaluate muscle quality and kinematic abilities by measuring Motor Functional Age (MFA), a new concept related to motor functional abilities. EIT Health supports market preparation of this innovation, which can identify strategies for preventing premature motor decline, thereby helping people stay active longer.

As the EU population grows older, we need to maintain active ageing by addressing the challenges of countering physical inactivity and unhealthy habits. These lead to muscle ageing (sarcopenia) and functional motor loss, problems that have a costly impact on EU healthcare policies. A new tool for assessing the concept of Motor Functional Age, directly related to muscle efficiency, can evaluate earlier motor decline for monitoring and preventing motor loss.

Team

The consortium consists of seven complementary partners from academia, research, industry and a patient association. Sorbonne University, Assistance Publique –Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) and University of Technology of Compiègne are key academic and clinical partners; IESE Business School is an internationally renowned business school; Abbott is in the healthcare industry sector; E-senior is an end-user association; and TMSi is the manufacturing company of the device.

The project

CHRONOS is a project to develop a medical device for evaluating muscle quality (using the HD-sEMG technique) and kinematic abilities (using accelerometers) to give an assessment of the Motor Functional Age (MFA).

MFA is a new concept related to motor functional abilities. MFA might be different from chronological age, depending on lifestyle, physical activity, and medical condition. The device will provoke the awareness of the functional loss indicated by a higher MFA. The device will also permit monitoring, adaptation and new design of a variety of personalised therapies for healthy ageing, including physical exercise, medication and nutritional intervention, to reduce the MFA.

The solution combines data processing software that estimates the MFA by assessing muscle ageing, using a non-invasive and innovative multichannel electromyographical technique coupled with accelerometry sensors for motion evaluation. This data will provide a built-in, clinical database of subjects from different age categories (25-75 years old). EIT Health supports end-user and way-to-market evaluation of this device, as well as knowledge dissemination.

This product not only measures an important new metric of motor ability, it also raises awareness of that metric – a change that can benefit all adults because it gives them a new tool for keeping active as they age and facilitates personalised therapy. The awareness can also inform evidence-based policies in Europe and The resulting reduction in early motor decline (sarcopenia) can mean lower costs for payers and increased economic benefits of longer productivity.

Why this is an EIT Health project

CHRONOS addresses the EIT Health challenge of supporting active ageing and the EIT Health Business Objective of overcoming functional loss. It is also in line with the EIT Health Focus Area of “Fostering Healthy Lives by Introducing Behavioural Change” because it encourages adults to alter their lifestyle in order to stay more mobile for longer.

External Partner:

• TMSi

Network Partner:

• University of Technology of Compiègne