Bio-medical Ontologies Maintenance and Change Management

284 M. Hadzic, M. Chen, and R. Brouwer
interested in is not regarding genetic causes of human diseases and genome analysis
but regarding total wellbeing of individuals. Jointly with the founder of the
HMDS idea [6], a system has been developed for the retrieval of information
about human diseases [12]. In this paper we look at the problem from a different
point of view. We are examining health not only as a function of physical and
mental health but also as a function of relational, emotional, spiritual and financial
wellbeing as defined by the Total Wellbeing Ontology [45]. No multi-agent
system exists yet to meet the needs of such a system.
3 A Holistic Approach to Health
The revolutionary technology development has resulted in rapid introduction of
cutting-edge technologies into our societies. We became very dependant on the
high technologies and comfort they brought. However, it has been evidenced that
this material comfort has failed to bring us better health, greater inner peace and a
fuller sense of meaning, purpose and satisfaction [13]. While the lives of individuals
may have become better, evidence [13] suggests that general health and wellbeing
of our societies became worse. Since 1960:
(1) divorce rate has doubled
(2) teen suicide rate has tripled
(3) recorded violent crime rate has quadrupled
(4) prison population has quintupled
(5) percentage of the babies born to unmarried parents has increased six fold, and
(6) cohabitation (a predictor of future divorce [14]) has increased sevenfold.
Moreover, it appears that the occurring problems are increasing over time, and are
gaining a momentum rather than being random events. It has been predicted that
depression will be the world’s leading cause of disability by 2020 [15].
Staying ignorant in this situation does not seem like a wise choice. We have to
examine our health more closely and become more aware of different factors that
are affecting our health both positively and negatively. The total wellbeing is not
only defined by our physical health but the end product of the interplay of the
physical, mental, emotional, financial, relational and spiritual events of a lifetime
[45]. This framework can help us precisely define and measure total wellbeing of
individuals in our modern society. In this section we give some background to
this approach.
3.1 Physical and Mental Health
A strong association between mental perceptions and physical health has been
demonstrated by numerous studies. Continued expose to stress can put a strain on
various organs, leading to systems breakdown, compromised immune response
and ultimately the deterioration of physical health [16, 17]. It has been reported
that some chronic physical illnesses such as asthma [18], diabetes [19] and cardiovascular
disease [20] are linked to mental illnesses such as depression. The relationship
between physical and mental health is bidirectional. Physically active