A “digital twin” could soon provide insights into how different lifestyle choices affect future health. Research is currently underway at Linköping University to develop digital models of the human body with the aim of promoting health.
For 20 years, Gunnar Cedersund, a lecturer at the Department of Medical Engineering in Linköping, has been working on creating a computer-based model of how the body’s organs function. Today, Cedersund leads a research group aiming to make these “digital twins” a constant health companion throughout life – in the form of an app.
The app is intended to allow the user to input their health data and show how the body would react to changes in habits, both positive and negative. For example, it can simulate the effects of quitting smoking, taking up exercise or starting to take a drug, and give an insight into how future health might be affected by different choices.
Cedersund is currently working with his colleagues to develop digital twins that 300 patients will be able to test in the spring. A central part of the work is to create a basic digital model of the body’s functions, which can then be supplemented with individual data to create a personalized version in the app.
– We want to fill it with as much individual data as possible so that it becomes a model of an individual, with that individual’s particular health profile and conditions, says Cedersund to forskning.se.
“See with your own eyes”
The digital twin can also be designed to resemble the user. For example, colleague William Lövfors has created a digital twin that looks like a computer game character based on himself. In the app, he can input lifestyle changes that affect his weight and the digital copy reacts by gaining or losing weight – just as Lövfors would probably do in real life. He points out that this is what sets this technology apart from traditional health advice.
– The difference between just getting good advice, like it’s good to exercise and eat lots of fiber and vegetables and so on, is that with this digital twin you can try to make the changes in the computer and see with your own eyes what happens, Lövfors tells the research news site.
The idea is that the app can be automatically updated with data from, for example, activity watches and other wearable sensors.
However, it is not known how people will be affected by using a digital health twin, but researchers stress that they are also working with psychologists and behavioral scientists on the use of the app.
The research group’s goal is for the digital twins to be integrated into basic healthcare, for example, during health consultations offered in one’s 40s and 50s.