Interview with Mrs Claudine Lorang

Interview with Mrs Claudine Lorang (Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte) and Dr Laurent Malisoux (LIH)

• Donor testimonials
• Donation

In February 2023, the Luxembourg public institution « Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte » (Œuvre) granted a generous EUR 254,719 donation to the LIH Department of Precision Health (DoPH) for the project “Personalised physical Activity promotioN in arthritis patients using a sMartphone-based sOlution” (PIANISSIMO) for 2023-2024. In this short interview, Dr Malisoux presents the project, while Claudine Lorang, senior project coordinator for social, environmental and sports & health projects at Œuvre, explains the reasons for supporting the research activities of the institute.

Mrs Lorang, could you tell us more about the mission of Œuvre and its involvement in health-related programmes?

C.L.: Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte is a public institution under the authority of the Minister of State, originally set up to help the victims of the Second World War. It now plays a leading role in organising and financing projects of general interest in Luxembourg. We support organisations who work in the following sectors: social, culture, environment, sports & health and remembrance & heritage. Within these defined areas, we identify and meet the needs in our society that are not being met by either public funding or private initiatives. More specifically, in the field of Sports & Health, illustrated by the motto “Healing through movement”, we aim to promote not only therapeutic sport, but also physical activity as a preventive measure for public health and as a tool for integration and collective well-being. In this context, the research carried out by the LIH, and in particular by the Physical Activity, Sport and Health (PASH) and Human Motion, Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine and Digital Methods (HOSD) research groups, is of great interest to us, as it is perfectly in line with our priorities for action.

Dr Malisoux, could you briefly introduce the PIANISSIMO project and its goals?

L.M.: The PIANISSIMO project – which I lead jointly with Dr Bernd Grimm of the Human Motion, Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine and Digital Methods (HOSD) research group – aims to promote physical activity in people with degenerative or chronic joint diseases through the participation of 100 volunteers with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. Specifically, the study will develop Colive Move, a dedicated smartphone-based solution for patient education, data collection and promotion of physical activity, and will investigate the relationship between various aspects of daily-life physical activity (i.e., type, intensity, duration, etc.) and pain in real-world settings. The project will ultimately generate a database for future research and patientspecific physical activity recommendations.

How does the project align with the priority research areas of the LIH?

L.M.: PIANISSIMO is perfectly aligned with the digital health and preventive medicine priority axes of our institute, as it aims to promote personalised physical activity through a novel smartphone solution, thereby being an example of priority translational project with a direct impact on patient health. Moreover, it holds a great transversal component, as the Colive Move application which will be developed in the framework of PIANISSIMO will also benefit future national and international translational research initiatives such as CLINNOVA. We are therefore extremely grateful to Œuvre for their incredibly generous support over the 2023-2024 period.

What were your reasons for supporting the LIH through your generous donation?

C.L.: Œuvre aims to address specific unmet needs of the general population. The impact of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis on individuals and society as a whole is often underestimated, with people with arthritis living with pain, disability and fatigue, affecting their independence, ability to work, mental health and self-esteem. In fact, musculoskeletal conditions are the biggest cause of lost working days in the UK. At Œuvre, we were particularly impressed by the approach that the LIH team will take to reduce the burden of arthritis by promoting physical activity through an innovative digital solution that promises to make consumer wearables such as fitness trackers or smartphones – currently used mainly to monitor physical activity in the context of lifestyle or well-being in healthy populations – meaningful and useful in the context of disease prevention, slowing disease progression and improving disease management. We therefore believe that our financial support will enable the LIH research team to make a tangible and positive impact on the health of many patients.
The PIANISSIMO project will officially start in October 2023, with a post-doctoral researcher being recently recruited for the management of the project, the development of the patient educational content, the recruitment of the participants, the follow-up of the cohort and data analysis.