How Can We Improve Quality of Life in CAD Patients?

TIMELY Patient Event Brings Awareness to Heart Health and Lifestyle Change

Tilburg, Netherlands – How to support patients with a coronary artery disease (CAD) or after a myocardial infarction? How to prevent a secondary event? And how can digital tools assist patients in lifestyle changes?

These and other questions were discussed during a patient event as part of the EU-funded TIMELY-project at the Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital (ETZ) in Tilburg on January 14th, 2025. The TIMELY project aims to improve health behaviors in patients recovering from cardiovascular events, combining medical, psychological, and behavioral insights to create lasting impact.

The patient event, hosted by Tilburg University and ETZ, focused on raising awareness for health behaviors and their role in managing CAD. Attendees had the opportunity to hear from experts in cardiology, medical psychology, and health research. In addition, a TIMELY program participant shared her personal experiences with the intervention.

Prof. Dr. Jos Widdershoven (Cardiologist, ETZ) presented valuable insights into risk factors for cardiovascular disease. “High blood pressure and high cholesterol levels can contribute to plaque formation and should be managed adequately,” explains Prof. Widdershoven. “Thus, it is crucial to monitor this data on a regular basis.” The TIMELY platform developed within the project provides patients with an app to help monitor the individual health status. Via a dedicated TIMELY dashboard, the physician has access to the data generated by a patient.

Empowering patients does not only mean helping them monitor and understand their health-related data. Physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk for CAD and is essential in both primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular events. But how can patients be motivated to increase their activity level? Importantly, as Dr. Theo Merkus (Medical Psychologist) explained during the event, psychosocial factors such as mental health, social support, and socioeconomic status (SES) play a critical role in motivation for self-care, including health behavior changes. The TIMELY platform addresses these factors by offering tailored and continuous support to patients, combining psychosocial and behavioral insights with technology.

The centerpiece of the TIMELY platform is an AI- and rule-based exercise prescription tool that recommends individualized physical training to each patient based on their personal risk profile. First findings within the TIMELY project highlight the importance of addressing both physical and psychosocial health to foster lasting lifestyle changes.

The TIMELY solution has been evaluated in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) at three clinical sites: Königsfeld (Germany), Santiago de Compostela (Spain), and Tilburg (The Netherlands). Although the trial is still running, the experiences and findings gathered so far underline the importance of such an individualized approach.

Anneke van Elderen, who participated in the TIMELY trial, shared how the intervention helped her gain greater awareness of her health. Monitoring her blood pressure and step count allowed her to better understand her health and feel more confident about initiating lifestyle changes. This newfound awareness encouraged her to take the first steps toward being more physically active.

“Lifestyle is key to improving cardiovascular health, but it’s not always easy to make the necessary changes,” adds Dr. Mirela Habibovic. “With TIMELY, we want to support both patients and physicians to better manage the risk factors and thus improve health outcomes and quality of life. We hope to make our TIMELY solution available to all CAD patients in the nearest future.”

The project will continue until March 2025, and initial results of the study will be published later this year.

About TIMELY
TIMELY is an EU-funded project with the objective to develop and implement an evidence-based platform that offers AI-powered applications, dashboards, and decision support tools. These tools assist both patients and clinicians in personalizing healthcare by evaluating risks, predicting outcomes, and offering tailored interventions. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101017424.