Development of an expert system framework for lifestyle improvement

In modern societies new, lifestyle related chronic diseases are appearing, affecting more and more people. Besides decreasing the quality of life for these patients, their treatments require increasing financial and social support from governments (and in many cases, even from the patients themselves). Apart from socio-economic concerns, another serious problem is the increasing shortage of experts (e.g. doctors, dietitians, ergonomists) that could help people, as the need for them is growing faster than their numbers. In this paper, a framework for creating expert systems capable of containing and properly using the knowledge of such experts, for providing help to users in acquiring and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, is presented. By selecting two different areas, diet and physical oriented lifestyle management and workplace related ergonomics, the effectiveness of such systems is tested.