Ontology-Based Reasoning for Educational Assistance in Noncommunicable Chronic Diseases

Andrêsa Vargas Larentis,Débora Nice Ferrari Barbosa,Eduardo Gonçalves De Azevedo Neto,Sérgio Duarte Correia,Jorge Luis Victória Barbosa,Valderi Reis Quietinho Leithardt

doi:10.3390/computers10100128

Abstract

Noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs) affect a large part of the population. With the emergence of COVID-19, its most severe cases impact people with NCDs, increasing the mortality rate. For this reason, it is necessary to develop personalized solutions to support healthcare considering the specific characteristics of individuals. This paper proposes an ontology to represent the knowledge of educational assistance in NCDs. The purpose of ontology is to support educational practices and systems oriented towards preventing and monitoring these diseases. The ontology is implemented under Protégé 5.5.0 in Ontology Web Language (OWL) format, and defined competency questions, SWRL rules, and SPARQL queries. The current version of ontology includes 138 classes, 31 relations, 6 semantic rules, and 575 axioms. The ontology serves as a NCDs knowledge base and supports automatic reasoning. Evaluations performed through a demo dataset demonstrated the effectiveness of the ontology. SWRL rules were used to define accurate axioms, improving the correct classification and inference of six instantiated individuals. As a scientific contribution, this study presents the first ontology for educational assistance in NCDs.

Highlights

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 41 million people died due to noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs), equivalent to 74% of a total of55.4 million people who died worldwide [1]
The study by Malta et al [6] indicated that 58% of adults with NCDs reduced the practice of physical activity, and 53.7% increased the consumption of frozen food during the pandemic
The ontology was evaluated through an automated reasoning process run by the Pellet plugin version 2.2.0 installed in Protégé

Summary

Introduction

In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 41 million people died due to noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs), equivalent to 74% of a total of55.4 million people who died worldwide [1]. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 41 million people died due to noncommunicable chronic diseases (NCDs), equivalent to 74% of a total of. This disease, responsible for more than 3.2 million deaths around the world by 1 May. 2021, has generated an additional alert for NCDs care since people with these diseases and their comorbidities have a higher risk of developing severe cases of COVID-19 [2]. Recent studies have shown that the pandemic of COVID-19 has affected lifestyles and compromised people’s healthcare, especially considering increased consumption of alcohol, tobacco [3], and ultra-processed foods [4], as well as reduced physical activity [5]. The study by Malta et al [6] indicated that 58% of adults with NCDs reduced the practice of physical activity, and 53.7% increased the consumption of frozen food during the pandemic.

Results

Discussion

Conclusion