Diabetes patients on the line

A TALKING super-computer will help treat diabetes patients by giving advice on diet, exercise and medication as well as keeping tabs on their overall condition.

A TALKING super-computer will help treat diabetes patients by giving advice on diet, exercise and medication as well as keeping tabs on their overall condition.

The super-computer -- dubbed a "very smart HAL" -- will quiz Type 2 diabetes patients over the phone on their takeaway food intake, amount of exercise and the number of blood-sugar level tests they have taken.

Patients will send their blood sugar results to the computer via SMS, and it will tell them what they need to do to improve their health.

A warning alert will be sent to the patient's doctor if there is any sign of serious symptoms that require real-life medical attention.

The computer system, using a mix of male and female voices, will be trialled on 340 adults to get more information and assistance to Type 2 diabetes patients, because the huge increase in the disease means there are not enough specialists and clinics to go around.

More than 1.5 million Australians have Type 2 diabetes, half of whom have not been diagnosed. The prevalence of the disease has doubled since 1996, and it is estimated that more than 3.3 million Australians will have diabetes by 2031.

The ground-breaking trial, to be held in Brisbane, is to be conducted by researchers from Monash University, the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology, in conjunction with Boston University.

Lead researcher Brian Oldenburg, of Monash University, said the telephone-linked care (TLC) system could help coach diabetes sufferers into keeping their condition in check. "The problem is that diabetes has almost developed like an epidemic," Professor Oldenburg said. "There are so many people who have diabetes, but there are not enough diabetics specialists or clinics for the numbers."

Susan Ash, from QUT's school of public health, said the system would empower sufferers to take control of their condition.

"Because the feedback they get from TLC is based on their blood sugar levels, users will get feedback immediately about diabetes management," Associate Professor Ash said.

Professor Oldenburg said patients would send their blood sugar results to the centre, and could ring up the service every week.

He said the computer would then ask the patient questions about exercise, food intake, frequency of blood-sugar level tests and medication.

"For example, the telephone system will ask the patient how they have been going in the past week," he said.

"And if the patient had previously said they were going to increase their activity, the program will say how many times did you go walking?"

Professor Oldenburg said the aim of the trial was to find out whether people responded to coaching from a computer, and whether they changed their behaviour as they would with a human counsellor or coach.

The tests of the computer system by Boston University found patients did respond to the automated system, and that people even gave it human characteristics.