Patent Application
20230134463
The present invention relates to a technique for supporting human health management.
Conventionally, a periodical health examination such as a so-called medical checkup or thorough medical checkup has been performed for company employees under related laws and regulations. Examination items applied to an employee taking the periodical health examination (hereinafter referred to as “medical examinee”) are basically often common examination items determined by a company that hires the medical examinee, although addition of examination items may be admitted as desired by the medical examinee. Therefore, in a conventional periodical health examination, because of a labor environment of a company, appropriate examination items are not always set about diseases that employees of the company are susceptible common and diseases with individual differences in susceptibility to the diseases (see, for example, Non-Patent Literature 1). A service for proposing behaviors recommended to improve health (hereinafter referred to as “recommended behaviors”) to a user and giving a fixed incentive to realization of the proposed behaviors by the user to promote health of the user (hereinafter referred to as “health service”) has been in place (see, for example, Non-Patent Literature 2).
Non-Patent Literature 1:
Non-Patent Literature 2: https://health.dmkt-sp.jp/, d Health Care, NTT DOCOMO
However, in the conventional periodical health examination or health service, the examination items and the recommended behaviors are sometimes not set according to characteristics of the medical examinee or the user. Therefore, it is likely that the conventional periodical health examination or health service cannot sufficiently contribute to health improvement of the medical examinee or the user.
In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique that can realize health management adapted to characteristics of an individual more.
An aspect of the present invention is a clinical examination item determination device that determines a clinical examination item for each user, the clinical examination item determination device including: an individual examination item determination unit that estimates, based on genetic factors of the user and nongenetic factors based on behaviors or habits of the user, a disease that the user develops with high possibility and determines, for the user, as an individual examination item, an examination item for detecting presence or absence of the estimated disease; a common examination item determination unit that determines an examination item for detecting a disease having a high incidence rate in a first organization to which the user belongs or a disease having a high incidence rate in common in the first organization and a second organization having an attribute similar to an attribute of the first organization as a common examination item of people belonging to the first or second organization; and an examination item determination unit that determines an examination item of the user based on the individual examination item and the common examination item.
An aspect of the present invention is a health behavior support device including: a recommended behavior setting unit that sets, based on genetic information of a user, for the user, a health behavior that is a behavior recommended to improve health of the user; and an application selection unit that selects, according to the health behavior set for the user, an application program executable in electronic equipment used by the user, the application program being an application program for supporting implementation of the health behavior by the user.
An aspect of the present invention is a clinical examination item determination method for determining a clinical examination item for each user, the clinical examination item determination method including: an individual examination item determination step for estimating, based on genetic factors of the user and non-genetic factors based on behaviors or habits of the user, a disease that the user develops with high possibility and determining, for the user, as an individual examination item, an examination item for detecting presence or absence of the estimated disease; an organization examination item determination step for determining an examination item for detecting a disease having a high incidence rate in a first organization to which the user belongs or a disease having a high incidence rate in common in the first organization and a second organization having an attribute similar to an attribute of the first organization as common examination items of people belonging to the first or second organization; and an examination item determination step for determining an examination item of the user based on the individual examination items and the common examination items.
An aspect of the present invention is a health behavior support method including: a recommended behavior setting step for setting, based on genetic information of a user, for the user, a health behavior that is a behavior recommended to improve health of the user; and an application determination step for determining, according to the health behavior set for the user, an application program executable in electronic equipment used by the user, a mission management application being an application program for supporting implementation of the health behavior by the user.
An aspect of the present invention is a computer program for causing a computer to function as the above clinical examination item determination device.
An aspect of the present invention is a computer program for causing a computer to function as the above health behavior support device.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a technique that can realize health management adapted to characteristics of an individual more.
Embodiments of the present invention are explained in detail with reference to the drawings.
The database 11 is a database that stores various kinds of information necessary for determining examination items of users. The database 11 performs, according to requests of other functional units, registration of various data, deletion of registered data, and provision of requested data.
The genetic model generation unit 12 has a function of generating genetic models of the users. The genetic model is a model for estimating, based on factors due to genetic characteristics (hereinafter referred to as “genetic factors”) of a user, possibility of the user developing a disease (intending a lifetime cumulative affection risk but, for convenience, hereinafter referred to as “incidence rate”). Specifically, the genetic model generation unit 12 generates, as a genetic model, an estimation model for outputting estimation values of incidence rates of diseases using genetic information of the user as an input. Note that it is assumed that the incidence rate estimated by the genetic model generation unit 12 is basically estimated based on the genetic factors of the user and the influence due to nongenetic factors of the user is not considered.
For the estimation of the incidence rate, information indicating a result of a clinical examination that the user took in the past in a periodical health examination or the like and information about lifestyle habits (hereinafter, referred to as “information such as health examination history” may be further used. In this case, the genetic model generation unit 12 may generate a genetic model using the information such as health examination history as an input in addition to the genetic information. When a user having a predetermined gene has a predetermined lifestyle habit (smoking or the like), an incidence rate is sometimes extremely high. It is possible to improve accuracy of the incidence rate by considering such a combination of the genetic information and the information such as health examination history.
The genetic model generation unit 12 may generate, separately from the genetic model, an estimation model for outputting an incidence rate (hereinafter referred to as “health examination history model) using information concerning a health examination history as an input. Note that, when the health examination history model is generated separately from the genetic model, an incidence rate of diseases may be determined based on incidence rates estimated by both the models. For example, the incidence rate of the diseases may be determined as a weighted sum of an incidence rate estimated based on the genetic model and an incidence rate estimated based on the health examination history model. It is possible to improve estimation accuracy of an incidence rate even when a degree of a correlation between an incidence rate by a gene and an incidence rate by the information such as health examination history is unclear.
The nongenetic model generation unit 13 has a function of generating a nongenetic model of the user. The nongenetic model is a model for estimating an incidence rate or a disease due to factors other than genetic factors (hereinafter referred to as “nongenetic factors”) of the user. For example, the nongenetic factors include physical characteristics, lifestyle habits, age, and a health examination result of the user. Note that the lifestyle habits include lifestyle habits of an individual each as drinking and smoking.
The incidence rate of the disease sometimes changes according to, in addition to the physical characteristics and the lifestyle habits of the individual user explained above, a physical burden, restriction of a behavior, or the like that the user receives in activities performed in a belonging organization such as a company. For example, in an organization where deskwork is mainly performed, it is assumed that an exercise amount of the user is highly likely to be lower than a general average and the user easily suffers from a lifestyle disease due to shortage of exercise. Therefore, factors based on activities of the user in the belonging organization may be included in the lifestyle habits serving as the nongenetic factors.
For example, concerning the lifestyle diseases due to the shortage of exercise explained above, an indicator value of an exercise amount measured for each user may be included in the nongenetic factors. When it is difficult to measure the indicator value of the exercise amount for each user, information correlating with the exercise amount may be included in the nongenetic factors. For example, when the exercise amount of the user is considered to be different depending on a job type, job types of users may be included in the nongenetic factors. For example, when the exercise amount of the user is considered to be different depending on a belonging organization, belonging organizations of the users may be included in the nongenetic factors. In this way, any direct factors or indirect factors considered to correlate with the incidence rate of the disease can be included in the nongenetic factors.
Note that the nongenetic model does not always need to be configured as one estimation model and may be configured to estimate a final incidence rate based on estimation results of a plurality of estimation models based on different nongenetic factors or a combination of the different nongenetic factors. The nongenetic factors may be based on data of a single year or may be set based on data of a plurality of years. By inputting the nongenetic factors based on the data of the plurality of years, it is possible to generate a nongenetic model considering a changeover years of the nongenetic factors.
The physical constitution estimation unit 14 has a function of estimating a physical constitution of the user based on a genetic model and/or a nongenetic model of the user. Note that, the physical constitution of the user means an incidence rate of a disease estimated from genetic factors and/or nongenetic factors of the user. Note that genetic characteristics of the user and nongenetic factors of the user sometimes mutually affect a disease risk. For example, a user having a predetermined gene polymorphism easily develops lung cancer when the user smokes. In such a case, a weighted sum of disease risks estimated by two models as explained below may be calculated or one model may be configured based on both of genetic characteristics of the user and nongenetic characteristic of the user.
The examination item determination unit 15 has a function of determining examination items implemented on the user. Specifically, the examination item determination unit 15 determines examination items of a disease having a high incidence rate in an organization such as a company to which the user belongs (a first organization) or examination items of a disease having a high incidence rate in common in the organization and an organization having an attribute similar to an attribute of the organization (a second organization) (hereinafter referred to as “common examination items”) and individual examination items for each user (hereinafter referred to as “individual examination items”). The examination item determination unit 15 determines the common examination items based on probabilities that, in the organization to which the user belongs, members of the organization develop various diseases and determines the individual examination items based on the physical constitution of the user estimated by the physical constitution estimation unit 14.
By including such a configuration, the clinical examination item determination device 1 in the first embodiment can include, according to the organization to which the user belongs and the physical constitution of the user, in examination items of the user, an examination item contributing to detection of a disease that the user develops with high possibility. In the following explanation, a generation method for a genetic model and a nongenetic model, a method of estimating a physical constitution of the user, and a method of determining examination items of the user are explained in detail.
It is known that a relation of the SNP to a certain disease is found by a study using a GWAS (Genome-Wide Association Study). Specifically, as information concerning a risk allele (R) and a non-risk allele (N) of the SNP, an odds ratio r1 of a risk hetero (RN) to a non-risk homo (NN) and an odds ratio r2 of a risk homo (RR) to a non-risk homo (NN) are obtained (see, for example, reference document 3).
About the gene types (NN, RN, and RR) of the SNP, a frequency of appearance of the risk allele R is represented as p (that is, a frequency of appearance of the non-risk allele N is 1−p), an overall incidence rate is represented as q, and incidence rates in the respective gene types are represented as d1, d2, and d3. The incidence rates d1 to d3 of the gene types are obtained by solving a relational expression of these. In this case, the overall incidence rate q about the single SNP is represented by the following Expression (2). It is possible to specify an incidence rate according to which gene type the single SNP has.
[Math 2]
q=d
1(1−p)2+2d2p(1−p)+d3p2 (2)
When a plurality of SNPs are related, it is possible to represent a comprehensive incidence rate P with, for example, Expression (3) by using a multiplication model of incidence rates of gene type a of the respective SNPs.
Note that it is assumed that genetic information of users used for the generation method is registered in the database 11 in advance as one kind of user information. Creation of the genetic model is not limited to the method explained above. For example, the genetic model may be created using a polygenic risk score (see, for example, reference document 2) or the like.
As explained above, the influence due to the nongenetic factors of the user is not basically considered for the disease risk estimated by the genetic model generation unit 12. This is because the influence on an incidence rate of a disease by the nongenetic factors of the user is taken into account by a nongenetic model explained below. However, it is known that an estimation result of a disease risk based on the SNP greatly fluctuates according to a combination with the nongenetic factors of the user (see, for example, reference document 4). For example,
The genetic model generation unit 12 registers information indicating a correlation between the disease and the genetic information created based on such a method in a database as a genetic model. Up to this point, a relation between the genetic information and the disease rink is considered to be successfully modeled. By inputting genetic information of a target user, whose disease risk is estimated, to the genetic model obtained in this way, it is possible to estimate a disease risk of the user. Construction of a genetic model and estimation using the genetic model may be separately performed.
Specifically, associated information of information indicating nongenetic factors (explanatory variables) and information indicating incidence rates (objective variables) of diseases in a group having the nongenetic factors is prepared as one set of sample data. A set of the sample data acquired for each of classifications of the nongenetic factors is prepared as learning data. The nongenetic model generation unit 13 applies the learning data prepared in this way to the learning model of the neural network to generate, as a learned model, a neural network describing a relationship between the explanatory variables and the objective variables. The nongenetic model generation unit 13 outputs the learned model generated in this way to the physical constitution estimation unit 14. By inputting nongenetic information of the user to the nongenetic model (the learned model) generated in this way, it is possible to estimate incidence rates of diseases about the user. Note that the method of the machine learning is not limited to the above neural network. For example, for the method of the machine learning, another learning model such as a GP (Genetic Programming) may be used or a statistical analysis method such as a multivariate analysis may be used.
Any examination results that can be measured by a physical examination such as a result of a blood test, a result of a urine test, a result of an X-ray test, and a measurement result of an electrocardiogram can be included in a health examination result that could be included in the nongenetic information. Height and weight, a value of BMI (Body Mass Index), an abdominal circumference, blood pressure, sex, and the like can be included in physical characteristics that could be included in the nongenetic information. Various kinds of information such as a smoking history and a smoking amount, a drinking history and a drinking amount, an average wakeup time, an average bedtime, meal time periods, an exercise time in one day, and a work situation can be included in lifestyle habits that could be included in the nongenetic information. Any information indicating characteristics and amounts of work such as average work start time and average work end time, an average overtime, the number of days of holiday shift, a rate of deskwork in the work, a type of a job, and a belonging organization and characteristics of the organization can be included in the information indicating the work situation.
[Math. 4]
incidence rate=α×the incidence rate estimated by the genetic model (1−α)×the incidence rate estimated by the nongenetic model (4)
In the expression, α is a coefficient for weighing the influences of the genetic model and the nongenetic model (0≤α≤1). A value of α may be determined based on any determination standard. For example, the value of α may be determined as a fixed value or may be determined as a variable value based on the following idea. For example, since the genetic factors are considered to less easily change, the genetic factors are considered to be a base of physical constitution estimation irrespective of the age of the user. On the other hand, since the nongenetic factors are considered to easily change according to timing and elapse of time, the nongenetic factors are considered to take into account factors corresponding to timing with respect to the base of the physical constitution estimation based on the genetic factors. For example, habitual drinking and smoking are examples of the nongenetic factors. These lifestyle habits tend to increase an incidence rate of a disease as age is higher. In this case, it is conceivable to reduce a value of α as the age is higher such that the influence on an incidence rate by the nongenetic factors increases as the age is higher.
On the other hand, it is also possible to assume that a child is easily affected by lifestyle habits of parents but, when growing up, selects an environment matching characteristics of the individual, whereby the influence on an incidence rate by genetic characteristics tends to be amplified. In this case, it is conceivable to increase the value of α as the age is higher. Depending on a disease, a degree of the influence of the nongenetic factors on an incidence rate of the disease is different. In this case, the value of α may be determined for each disease. In this way, the value of α may be represented by a function that changes according to age and a type of a disease (see, for example, reference document 5). The physical constitution estimation unit 14 can determine, as an individual examination item, an examination item of a disease having an incidence rate exceeding a threshold, among diseases, incidence rates of which are calculated in this way.
Note that the incidence rate may be represented by a relational expression other than Expression (4). For example, the incidence rate may be represented not by a linear form like Expression (4) but by a nonlinear form. For example, the incidence rate may be calculated by a relational expression for not determining a final incidence rate based on the incidence rate estimated based on the genetic factors and the incidence rate estimated based on the nongenetic factors like Expression (4) but for directly estimating a final incidence rate simultaneously considering the influences of the genetic factors and the nongenetic factors.
For example, the incidence rate may be calculated by correcting, based on a result of a case control study concerning the nongenetic factors, the incidence rate estimated based on the genetic factors. for example, it is assumed that, about a disease for which an incidence rate of approximately six times as high as a normal incidence rate is assumed by a specific genetic factor, experiment data indicating that the incidence rate increases to 190 times because specific lifestyle habits of drinking and smoking equal to or more than predetermined amounts are added to the specific genetic factor as nongenetic factors is obtained. In such a case, the physical constitution estimation unit 14 may be configured to correct, according to whether the nongenetic factors of the user correspond to the experiment data, the incidence rate of the user having the above specific genetic factor.
The population is a group larger in size than the organization to which the user belongs. For example, the population information is information indicating incidence rates of diseases in a region (a country, a prefecture, a municipality, or the like) where the user lives. The examination item determination unit 15 extracts, based on the organization information and the population information, a disease having an incidence rate in the organization higher than a general incidence rate in the population and determines, as common examination items of the user, examination items effective for detection of the extracted disease.
For example, according to the following Expression (5), the examination item determination unit 15 calculates indicator values of susceptibility to diseases in the organization and extracts a disease having the indicator value exceeding a predetermined threshold. Alternatively, the examination item determination unit 15 may select a predetermined number of diseases in order from a disease having the highest indicator value.
[Math. 5]
Indicator value—the incidence rate in the belonging organization/the incidence rate in the population (5)
Note that a standard deviation or the like of the incidence rate in the belonging organization with respect to the incidence rate in the population may be used as the indicator value. It is assumed that information indicating effective examination items effective for the diseases is registered in the database 11 in advance.
Note that the examination item determination unit 15 may be configured to consider medical expenses in the determination of the common examination items. For example, it is assumed that the incidence rates of the diseases are set as shown in
[Math. 6]
Indicator value—β×R1+γ×C1 (6)
It is assumed that the “medical expenses” shown in
About diseases described below, the examination item determination unit 15 may include examination items of the diseases in the common examination items without performing comparison with the population.
Diseases included in receipts issued in the past to the belonging organization of the user or diseases, the number of suffers of which is large, among those diseases. By including such diseases in the common examination items, it is possible to preferentially set examination items of a disease easily developed in the belonging organization.
Diseases, incidence rates of which are estimated as high based on an epidemiological survey result of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and average age of the organization. This is because the incidence rates of the diseases in the entire organization tend to increase according to aging in the organization. For example, when the average age of the organization is set as an indicator and the indicator exceeds a threshold based on a result of an epidemiological survey, the examination item determination unit 15 may include examination items of a target disease of the epidemiological survey in the common examination items.
Diseases determined as having high possibility of development based on statistical values of incidence rates estimated from genetic models or nongenetic models of members of the organization. In this way, data mainly used for determining the individual examination items may be used for the determination of the common examination items. In particular, nongenetic elements are considered to be highly likely to be similar among the members of the belonging organization.
Note that, information indicating onset ages of diseases specified based on the result of the epidemiological survey may be registered in advance in the database 11. In this case, by designating a target disease, the examination item determination unit 15 can acquire onset age of the disease from the database 11.
The examination item determination unit 15 extracts, based on the onset ages of the diseases acquired in this way, about a disease, onset age of which exceeds the age of the user, examination items effective for detection of the disease as individual examination items. For example, in the example shown in
Note that, about a disease for which a relatively high incidence rate is estimated among the diseases, the incidence rates of which are estimated by the physical constitution estimation unit 14, the examination item determination unit 15 may include examination items of the disease in the individual examination items irrespective of the age of the user. In this case, a threshold of an incidence rate only has to be determined in advance as a reference in not performing selection of a disease by age. The examination item determination unit 15 outputs, as examination items of the user, the common examination items and the individual examination items determined in this way.
The clinical examination item determination device 1 in the first embodiment configured in this way can determine items of a clinical examination performed on the user from both aspects of the possibility of development of the disease based on the organization to which the user belongs and the possibility of development of the disease based on the genetic factors or/and the nongenetic factors of the user. The examination items determined in this way are proposed to the user or the belonging organization of the user, whereby it is possible to promote health management adapted to characteristics of an individual more. Note that the items of the clinical examination may be determined independently using an incidence rate of the disease based on each of the organization to which the user belongs, the genetic factors of the user, and the nongenetic factors of the user or the items of the clinical examination may be determined by combining two or all of incidence rates of the disease based on each of the organization to which the user belongs, the genetic factors of the user, and the nongenetic factors of the user.
Sources of the reference documents introduced in the first embodiment are described below.
Reference document 1:
Reference Document 2:
Reference Document 3:
Reference Document 4:
Reference document 5:
Reference document6:
Reference document 7: Cancer Information Services, National Cancer Center, Japan “Cancer registration/statistics”.
Note that, in this embodiment, the configuration for determining examination items of a user based on both of a physical constitution and a belonging organization of the user is explained. However, the clinical examination item determination device 1 in the embodiment may be configured to determine examination items based on one of the physical constitution and the belonging organization.
The clinical examination item determination device 1 may be configured to include an individual examination item determination unit that determines individual examination items out of predetermined examination items and a common examination item determination unit that determines common examination items out of the predetermined examination items. In this case, the examination item determination unit 15 may be configured to determine examination items of users based on the individual examination items determined by the individual examination item determination unit and the common examination items determined by the common expectation item determination unit.
About the disease for which high possibility of development is estimated according to both of the incidence rate and the result of the epidemiological survey, the clinical examination item determination device 1 in the first embodiment selects the examination items of the disease as the individual examination items. This is considered to be a method of estimating high possibility of development under an AND condition of a viewpoint of the incidence rate and a viewpoint of the result of the epidemiological survey. In contrast, about a disease for which high possibility of development is estimated according to each of the incidence rate and the result of the epidemiological survey, the clinical examination item determination device 1 may be configured to select examination items of the disease as the individual examination items. Specifically, first, the clinical examination item determination device 1 selects, based on the result of the epidemiological survey, diseases, onset ages of which are exceeded by the age of the user, and selects examination items of the diseases as the individual examination items. In addition, the clinical examination item determination device 1 selects diseases having high incidence rates based on genetic information of the user and selects examination items of the diseases as the individual examination items. In this way, the clinical examination item determination device 1 is capable of selecting more examination items under an OR condition of the viewpoint of the incidence rate and the viewpoint of the result of the epidemiological survey. It is possible to perform an examination without omission covering examination items corresponding to age and examination items having individual differences.
The clinical examination item determination device 1 may have a liquid biopsy as one of choices of examination items. The liquid biopsy is an examination method attracting attention in recent years as being capable of diagnosing a plurality of types of cancer at a time. However, in the liquid biopsy, a type of cancer that can be detected is different depending on a method of the liquid biopsy. Therefore, the clinical examination item determination device 1 may be configured to select, as an examination item, the liquid biopsy corresponding to cancer estimated as having a high incidence rate. Consequently, it is possible to determine a method that can efficiently and effectively examine cancer.
All or a part of the functions of the health behavior support device 2 may be realized using hardware such as no ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The program may be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium is a portable medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, or a CD-ROM or a storage device such as a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. The program may be transmitted via an electric communication line.
The database 21 is a database storing various kinds of information necessary for supporting health behaviors of users. The database 21 performs, according to requests from the other functional units, registration of various data, deletion of registered data, and provision of requested data.
The mission setting unit 22 (a recommended behavior setting unit) has a function of setting, for the users, health behaviors recommended according to genetic constitutions of the respective users. In the following explanation, the health behaviors set for the users are referred to as “missions”. The users install, in the user terminals 3, application programs corresponding to the missions set for the users (hereinafter referred to as “health applications”) and manage the missions with the health applications. The health applications may give, to the users who have achieved the missions, fixed incentives corresponding to the admissions.
The mission management application selection unit 23 selects, for the users for whom the missions are set by the mission setting unit 22, health applications for supporting management of the set missions (hereinafter referred to as “mission management applications”). The mission management application selection unit 23 encourages the users to install the health applications selected as the mission management applications in the user terminals 3. Note that the mission management application selection unit 21 may only notify the health applications selected as the mission management applications to the user terminals 3 and leave it to determination by the users whether to install the health applications.
The application utilization degree determination unit 24 has a function of determining utilization degrees of the health applications installed in the user terminals 3 as the mission management applications. The utilization degrees of the mission management applications are indicators to for measuring utilization degrees of the users for the set missions. The application utilization degree determination unit 24 plays a role of performing notification corresponding to the determined application utilization degrees to the user terminals 3 to thereby improve motivations of the users to execute health behaviors for the set missions.
The behavior content determination unit 25 has a function of determining content of health behaviors actually performed by the users. Specifically, the behavior content determination unit 25 acquires, from the health applications, information concerning the health behaviors performed by the users from the user terminals 3 (hereinafter referred to as “behavior information”) and determines appropriateness of the performed health behaviors based on the acquired behavior information. The behavior content determination unit 25 performs, to the user terminal 3, notification corresponding to the appropriateness of the health behavior performed by the user of the user terminal 3. Consequently, the behavior content determination unit 25 plays a role of improving the quality of the health behavior performed by the user and improving a motivation of the user to execute a higher quality health behavior.
Note that, when information such as a medical questionnaire is acquired beforehand, the mission setting unit 22 may be configured to filter selected missions based on information concerning the missions. For example, it is likely that a health behavior about to be set as a mission has already been implemented by the user. In such a case, if the health behavior already implemented by the user can be grasped according to the information such as the medical questionnaire, it is possible to avoid such a health behavior unnecessary for the user being set as a mission. For example, it is possible to prevent a health behavior of “refraining from smoking” from being set for a user having a risk of lung cancer but not having a smoking history. Such filtering achieves an effect of enabling a user, to whom many health behaviors are recommended as missions, to more easily grasp the recommended health behaviors.
Specifically, genetic constitution information shown in
Note that the physical constitution indicated by the gene polymorphism is not limited to the physical constitution illustrated in
(1) Meal Management Application
As explained above, the person having the gene polymorphism “β3AR” tends to be weak in the function of carbohydrate metabolism. Such a physical constitution is a physical constitution having a risk of easily gaining visceral fat (see, for example, reference document 7). Therefore, for the person having such a physical constitution, a health behavior for taking more vitamin B1 for supporting the carbohydrate metabolism than a standard is set as a mission. Accordingly, as a mission management application corresponding to such a mission, a meal management application having a function that can evaluate an intake amount of vitamin B1 is selected. For example, the meal management application has a function of analyzing image data obtained by imaging food eaten by the user, estimating an amount of vitamin B1 included in the food, and transmitting an estimated value of the amount to the health behavior support device 2. Note that the meal management application may be configured to transmit the image data to a server having an analysis function for the image data and acquire an analysis result of the image data from the server.
(2) Exercise Support Application
A person having an S/S type of a gene polymorphism “PPARGC1A” tends to have a small increase amount of mitochondria by exercise and to be weak in a function of energy production by exercise. Such a physical constitution is a physical constitution not suitable for exercise with a large energy consumption amount requiring durability (see, for example, reference document 8). Therefore, for the person having such a physical constitution, a health behavior for performing light exercise such as walking for a long time is set as a mission. As a mission management application for such a mission, an exercise support application having a function that can evaluate a time of walking is selected. For example, the exercise support application has a function of acquiring measurement information of an activity amount from an activity amount meter worn by the user and transmitting the acquired measurement information to the health behavior support device 2.
Note that a health behavior that could be a mission is not limited to the health behavior illustrated in
Note that it is assumed that the recommended frequency information is retained in health applications. However, the use frequency information may be registered in the database 21 in advance. The recommended use frequency may be set for each health application or may be set for each combination of a health application and a mission.
Subsequently, the application utilization degree determination unit 24 acquires, from the user terminal 3, use history information indicating a history of the user using the mission management application (step S102). The application utilization degree determination unit 24 acquires, based on the acquired use history information, a frequency of the user actually using the mission management application (hereinafter referred to as “actual use frequency”) (step S103) and determines whether the actual use frequency is equal to or higher than the recommended use frequency (step S104). In order to compare the actual use frequency and the recommended use frequency, an actual number of times of use of the mission management application in a predetermined unit period or information with which the actual number of times of use can be grasped only has to be included in the use history information.
When the actual use frequency is lower than the recommended use frequency in step S104 (step S104—NO), the application utilization degree determination unit 24 transmits, to the user terminal 3, a notification for urging further use of the mission management application (step S105). Note that, instead of transmitting the notification to the user terminal 3, the application utilization degree determination unit 24 may perform the notification with display on the health application or may perform the notification with transmission of an electronic mail. When a portal site for each user is provided as an example of a user interface provided by the health behavior support device 2 through a Web, the application utilization degree determination unit 24 may display the notification on screens generated by the users logging in to the portal site.
In this case, the application utilization degree determination unit 24 may notify information indicating how much the real use frequency is less than the recommended use frequency. On the other hand, when the actual use frequency is equal to or higher than the recommended use frequency in step S104 (step S104—YES), the application utilization degree determination unit 24 gives a fixed point to the user as a reward for steadily executing the mission (step S106).
For example, when a mission concerning meals of the user is managed by the meal management application, it is conceivable to set “three times/one day” as the recommended use frequency to correspond to three meals in the morning, the noon, and the night. In this case, if the actual use frequency of the meal management application is three times or more/one day, the application utilization degree determination unit 24 gives a point to the user and transmits a message such as “Got a point!” to the user terminal 2. On the other hand, if the actual use frequency of the meal management application is zero times to twice/one day, the application utilization degree determination unit 24 transmits a message such as “Let's input data to the application!” to the user terminal 3 as a notification for urging further use of the meal management application.
Subsequently, the behavior content determination unit 25 acquires information concerning the mission set for the user (hereinafter referred to as “mission information”) (step S203). It is assumed that the mission information is registered in the meal management application or the database 21 of the user terminal 3 by the mission setting unit 22 when the mission is set for the user. Specifically, a health behavior set as the mission and a target value concerning the health behavior are included in the mission information.
For example, in the example shown in
Subsequently, the behavior content determination unit 25 determines whether an intake amount of calorie and the nutrient taken by the user (hereinafter simply referred to as “intake amount”) is smaller than a lower limit of the target range (step S206). The intake amount is obtained by the analysis of the meal image data in step S202. When the intake amount is smaller than the lower limit value of the target range in step S206 (step S206—YES), the behavior content determination unit 25 notifies the user terminal 3 that the intake amount of the calorie and the nutrient is insufficient (an example of an advice) (step S207).
On the other hand, when the intake amount is equal to or larger than the target value in step S206 (step S206—NO), the behavior content determination unit 25 determines whether the intake amount is equal to or smaller than an upper limit value of the target range (step S208). When the intake amount is equal to or smaller than the upper limit value of the target range in step S208 (step S208—YES), the behavior content determination unit 25 gives a fixed point to the user as a reward for steadily executing the mission (step S209). On the other hand, when the intake amount exceeds the upper limit value of the target range in step S208 (step S208—NO), the behavior content determination unit 25 notifies the user terminal 3 that the intake amount of the calory and the nutrient is excessively large (an example of an advice) (step S210).
Note that, in the above explanation, whether or not a point is granted is determined according to whether both of the calory and the nutrient is within the target range. However, whether or not a point is granted may be determined separately for the calory and the nutrient.
With the health behavior support device 2 in the second embodiment configured in this way, it is possible to promote health management adapted to characteristics or an individual more. Specifically, a health behavior for health promotion has been proposed to a user. However, in the conventional method, the proposed health behavior does not reflect individual characteristics of the user and is uniformly set. Therefore, it is likely than the proposed health behavior is not always effective for individual users.
In contrast, the health behavior support device 2 in the second embodiment can set, according to a genetic constitution of a user, a health behavior (a mission) recommended for health promotion of the user and quantitatively monitor a behavior state of the user with respect to the set mission. The health behavior support device 2 in the second embodiment can give a reward to the user according to the behavior state of the user with respect to the mission and urge the user to change a behavior. Therefore, the user is capable of efficiently and effectively promoting or maintaining health according to the physical constitution of the user. Since the user is not always aware of the genetic constitution, by executing a mission determined based on genetic characteristics, the user is capable of reducing even a health risk due to the physical constitution that the user is not aware of.
Sources of the reference documents introduced in the second embodiment are described below.
Reference document 7:
https://with-aging.com/column/2258/
Reference document 8:
https://med.fjtex.co.jp/products/gene/exercise/
Reference document 9: https://www.asken.jp/
Note that, in the first embodiment and the second embodiment, an example is explained in which the health behavior support device 2 is configured as one device. However, the health behavior support device 2 may be implemented using a plurality of information processing devices communicably concerted via a network. In this case, the functional units included in the health behavior support device 2 may be implemented to be distributed to the plurality of information processing devices. For example, the database 11, the genetic model generation unit 12, the nongenetic model generation unit 13, the physical constitution estimation unit 14, and the examination item determination unit 15 may be respectively implemented in different information processing devices. For example, the database 21, the mission setting unit 22, the mission management application selection unit 23, the application utilization degree determination unit 24, and the behavior content determination unit 25 may be respectively implemented in different information processing devices. By adopting such a configuration, it is also possible to configure the health behavior support device 2 as a so-called Cloud system.
For example, as an example, a configuration in which a mission setting unit on a Cloud server sets missions for users and mission management applications selected according to the missions are installed in user terminals and perform data coordination with the Cloud server is conceivable. In this case, as an example, a configuration in which the mission management applications acquire information and the like indicating utilization degrees of the applications and evaluation result of behavior content from an application utilization degree determination unit and a behavior content determination unit on the Cloud server and notify the information and the like to the users is conceivable.
The embodiments of the present invention are explained in detail above with reference to the drawings. However, a specific configuration is not limited to the embodiments. Design and the like in a range not departing from the gist of the present invention are also included.
The present invention can provide means for supporting management, support, or promotion of health for organizations such as companies that manage or support health of members, various medical institutions that manage or support health of medical examinees, and individuals who intend to manage and promote health of the individuals.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2020/014901 | 3/31/2020 | WO |
