Author: network

AI and Mental Healthcare – ethical and regulatory considerations

This governmental report discusses the ethical and regulatory considerations of using artificial intelligence in mental healthcare in the UK.

Bias in AI tools (algorithmic bias) can stem from various places, including tools being trained on biased datasets and outputting discriminatory outcomes or developers making biased decisions in the design or training of such tools. For example, mental health Electronic health record (EHR) data is susceptible to cohort and label bias. This can occur because culture-bound presentations of mental disorders, combined with a lack of transcultural literacy among clinicians, often lead to both over- and under-diagnosis. People can also exhibit bias when using AI tools, such as over-relying on, or mistrusting AI outputs. All these biases can be conscious or unconscious.

Learn more about the report here: https://doi.org/10.58248/PN738

Reference

Gardiner, Hannah and Natasha Mutebi (2025), AI and Mental Healthcare – ethical and regulatory considerations, UK Parliament – POST, POSTnote 738, 31 January 2025
A Data-Centric Approach to Detecting and Mitigating Demographic Bias in Pediatric Mental Health Text: A Case Study in Anxiety Detection

This study examines classification parity across sex and finds that female adolescents have systematically under-diagnosed mental health disorders: their model’s accuracy was ~4 % lower and false negative rate ~9 % higher compared to male patients. The source of the bias resides in the textual data, namely notes corresponding to male patients tended to be on average 500 words longer and had distinct word usage. To mitigate this, the authors introduce a de-biasing method, based on neutralizing biased terms (gendered words and pronouns) and reducing sentences to essential clinical information. After correcting, diagnostic bias is reduced by up to 27%.

This emphasizes how linguistically transmitted bias—ensuing from word choice and gendered language—consistently leads to the under-diagnosis of mental health disorders among female adolescents, which critically undermines the impartiality of medical diagnosis and treatment.

Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2501.00129

Reference

Ive, J., Bondaronek, P., Yadav, V., Santel, D., Glauser, T., Cheng, T., Strawn, J.R., Agasthya, G., Tschida, J., Choo, S., Chandrashekar, M., Kapadia, A.J., & Pestian, J.P. (2024). A Data-Centric Approach to Detecting and Mitigating Demographic Bias in Pediatric Mental Health Text: A Case Study in Anxiety Detection.
Neuropsychological Disorders, Seniors and Fundamental Rights
Proposal: Strategic Litigation to Address Seniors Rights in European Union

Proposed Implementation: 2025 to 2027

Call: CERV-2024-CHAR-LITI – Promote civil society organisations’ awareness of, capacity building and implementation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

Proposed Budget: 508 057,40€

Keywords: Strategic Litigation, Seniors, Neuropsychological disorders, Dementia, civil society organizations, capacity building, legal professionals and practitioners, human rights defenders, EU Charter

Objective: the project aims to promote Strategic Litigation actions and enforcement of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights to address breaches of the rights of Seniors and especially those with neuropsychological disorders. The project intends to form a community of practice to share knowledge and improve the multistakeholder cooperation and exchange of good practices among civil society organizations , human rights defenders, legal professionals and practitioners, Ombuds Institutions, equality bodies and independent human rights bodies.

The project also wants to develop tools on how to use EU Charter for strategic litigation of Seniors, developing the organizations ability to develop a litigation strategy and communicate and advocate on fundamental rights of Seniors under the Charter. As well as conducting research on case studies, and creating an advocacy campaign with short videos and podcasts on social media workshops increasing the awareness and knowledge of the key target groups and general public of seniors’ rights under EU law.

Partners:
- Challedu
- Health Citizens – European Institute
- Corporation for Succor and Care of Elderly and Disabled
- Kentro Evropaikou Syntagmatikou Dikaio Idryma
- Erevnitiko Idrima
- Cooperativa Sociale Cooss Marche Onlus Societa
Children’s Mental Health Literacy
Proposal: Empowering Children with Mental Health Literacy Online

Proposed Implementation: 2025 to 2027

Call: CERV-2024-CHILD – Rights of the child and children’s participation

Proposed Budget: 339 427,14€

Keywords: Mental Health, Raising awareness of children and/or young people

Objective: The project aims to address the pressing issue of mental health among adolescents aged 14-17 in the context of digitalization. It focuses on developing strategies to support teenagers’ mental well-being in the face of various challenges exacerbated by digitalization, such as cyberbullying, exposure to harmful content, and excessive screen time.

The initiative entails mapping good practices across four countries, bringing together psychological experts to develop training formats aimed at preparing the educational staff and youth workers to support children’s mental health, both within and beyond school environments.

The project emphasizes the importance of promoting digital and media literacy skills among children and youth to navigate the digital world safely and responsibly. Through collaborative efforts with stakeholders, the project seeks to foster a supportive environment for children’s mental health and well-being in the digital age.

Partners:
- Asociatia Umanista Romana
- Health Citizens – European Institute
- Loesje Bitola
- Society and Enterprise Development Institute
The Role of Gender: Gender Fairness in the Detection of Depression Symptoms on Social Media

The study found that the BDI-Sen dataset used for depression symptom detection on social media exhibits gender bias, with machine learning models such as mentalBERT showing predictive disparities that generally favour male users. Although bias mitigation techniques like data augmentation reduced the bias, they did not eliminate it completely.

The existence of this bias affects the fairness and reliability of AI systems in detecting depression symptoms, leading to unequal predictive performance across genders. This can result in under- or over-identification of depression symptoms in certain groups, thereby compromising the validity of such systems for clinical or mental health monitoring.

Learn more about this study here: https://studenttheses.uu.nl/handle/20.500.12932/47734

Reference

Gierschmann, Lara (2024), The Role of Gender: Gender Fairness in the Detection of Depression Symptoms on Social Media, Utrecht University, unpublished Master Thesis
AEQUITAS
Proposal: Preparation of the CSOs and public healthcare sector to address gender and racial biases that might arise from the wide usage of AI in order to protect and promote fundamental rights

Implementation: 2025 to 2027

Call: CERV-2024-CHAR-LITI – Promote civil society organizations’ awareness of, capacity building and implementation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

Proposed Budget: 1 061 761,00€

Keywords: gender and racial biases, biomedical AI, EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

Objective: The topic of the AEQUITAS project is the gender and racial biases that have been reported in biomedical AI and which can lead to misdiagnosis and mistreatment and how they pose a threat to the fundamental rights protected by the EU Charter. The aim of the project is 3-fold:

– to increase the capacity of the CSOs and human rights organizations in educating the public, monitoring the biases and advocating for the protection of the fundamental rights especially regarding the biomedical AI;

– to increase the knowledge of healthcare staff from public hospitals on the biases that biomedical AI can present due to the biased data from which they were fed and to help them approach and consult these AI systems with a critical mindset;

– to develop an AI Regulatory Model that will be used by CSOs and public hospitals in their practices;

– to develop a European network of CSOs and public hospitals that will collaborate and support each other in the effort to raise public’s awareness on the gender and racial biases of biomedical AI and on the applications of the EU Charter;

– to raise awareness of the EU Charter of fundamental rights and its application in the AI era;

– to develop and distribute policy recommendations in order to advocate for the need to regulate biomedical AI.

Partners:
- Innovation Hive – Kypseli Kainotomias
- Kentro Ginaikeion Meleton Kai Ereyvnon Astiki Mi K
- Universitat Zu Koln
- Center for the Study of Democracy
- C.I.P. Citizens in Power
- Moterų Informacijos Centras Asociacija Mic
- Lobby Europeo de Mujeres en Espana LEM España
- TIA Formazione Internazionale Associazione APS
- Health Citizens – European Institute
- Technologiko Panepistimio Kyprou
- Cyens Centre of Excellence
- Edex – Educational Excellence Corporation Limited
- Rite Research Institute for Technological Evolution
- Vucable
- TotalEU Production
Project Website: under development
Association of Helicobacter pylori Infection with Depression and Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The association between Helicobacter pylori infection and depression and anxiety has been reported in the literature.

A meta-analysis was developed in 2024 with the aim of investigating the association between H. pylori infection with these mental health conditions. The systematic search was conducted not only in international sources such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase, but also in Chinese databases, and looked for observational studies that reported the incidence or prevalence of depression and anxiety in patients with H. pylori infection.

Surprisingly, while the findings of this analysis showed a significant positive association between the bacteria and anxiety disorders, the association with depression appeared to be insignificant. Nevertheless, this finding seems to imply that clinicians treating H. pylori patients should also address their psychological well-being.

Learn more about this review here: https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/9247586

Reference

Li, Lu, Ren, Yadi, Wang, Zeyu, Niu, Yanqing, Zhao, Ying, Aihaiti, Xiaherezhati, Ji, Yinglan, Li, Man, Association of Helicobacter pylori Infection with Depression and Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, International Journal of Clinical Practice, 2024, 9247586, 9 pages, 2024.
Impact of Helicobacter pylori eradication on age‑specific risk of incident dementia in patients with peptic ulcer disease: a nationwide population‑based cohort study

A large South Korean cohort study from 2024 examined whether peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy influence dementia risk in adults aged 55–79.

Using national health insurance data from 2002–2015 and propensity score matching, researchers assessed overall dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) over 5–10 years. While the researchers did not directly verify the presence of the bacteria, their findings were based on treatment history.

The results showed that PUD was associated with a higher risk of developing dementia, with a stronger link for overall dementia than for AD. Eradication therapy itself did not markedly change overall risk, but later treatment was associated with greater dementia risk, highlighting the importance of timely management. Age-stratified analyses also indicated elevated AD risk, particularly in individuals in their 60s and 70s.

Overall, the findings suggest that PUD is a risk factor for dementia in older adults, and that early treatment of H. pylori infection may play a role in prevention strategies for neurodegenerative diseases.

Learn more about this study here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-024-01284-z

Reference

Kang, D.W., Lee, JW., Park, M.Y. et al. Impact of Helicobacter pylori eradication on age-specific risk of incident dementia in patients with peptic ulcer disease: a nationwide population-based cohort study. GeroScience 47, 1161–1174 (2025).
Enhance Antimicrobial Resistance Diagnostic Methods
Proposal: Genetic Biomarkers and Bioactive Compounds (from Plants, Bacteria, and Fungi): Enhancing Diagnostic Methods with Innovative Solutions in Healthcare Settings Related to the Growing Enhance Antimicrobial Resistance

Proposed Implementation: 2025 to 2029

Call: HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-09 – Partnerships in Health 2024

Proposed Budget: 36 862 500,00€

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance, Antimicrobials, Bacteria, Fungi, Health determinants, Pathogen agents, Genetic biomarkers, bioactive compounds, diagnostics

Objective: This project aims to enhance antimicrobial resistance diagnostic methods by integrating genetic biomarkers and bioactive compounds derived from plants, bacteria, and fungi. The primary objectives include advancing diagnostic precision through the identification and validation of resistance genes, utilizing bioactive compounds to improve diagnostic assays, and developing novel diagnostic tools for antimicrobial resistance detection. These solutions will be implemented in both clinical and health settings to enable proactive monitoring and timely interventions.

To achieve these objectives, the project will develop new diagnostic assays, prototype innovative biosensors, and conduct clinical trials to validate the efficacy of these methods in real-world scenarios. The training of healthcare professionals and the creation of educational resources will further support the integration of these solutions into clinical practice. The project will also focus on ensuring the cost-effectiveness and scalability of these innovations, aligning with public health strategies for antimicrobial resistance management.

This project aligns with the work programme by addressing the need for improved diagnostic tools to combat antimicrobial resistance. It contributes to the scientific community by advancing research on biomarkers and bioactive compounds, offering practical solutions to enhance diagnostic accuracy and support personalized treatment strategies.

Partners:
- İzmir Project Agency Association
- Health Citizens – European Institute
- Azerbaijan Ministry of Science and Education Institute of Microbiology
- Baku State University
- The Stephan Angeloff Institute of Microbiology
- Fundació Hitt
- Istanbul Nisantasi University
- Altınbaş Üniversitesi
- İzmir Demokrasi Üniversitesi
- University of Zagreb
- University of Oradea
Predicting Environmental Impact on Health
Proposal: Predicting and Informing Air and Noise Pollution and Their Impact on Health from Environmental Data

Proposed Implementation: 2025 to 2030

Call: HORIZON-MISS-2024-CIT-01- Changing urban spaces and mindsets to accelerate the transition to climate neutrality

Proposed Budget: 4 998 382,50€

Keywords: Environmental health

Objective: The project aims to tackle the interconnected challenges of air and noise pollution and their significant health impacts through an innovative, data-driven, and participatory approach. By integrating advanced technologies such as IoT sensors, satellite data, and citizen-enabled data collection, the project builds a dynamic knowledge graph that maps the complex relationships between environmental factors and public health. This graph serves as a foundation for actionable insights, enabling stakeholders to make informed decisions and advocate for evidence-based policies.

The project emphasizes stakeholder engagement, fostering collaboration among policymakers, urban planners, public health officials, and citizens through workshops, training sessions, and capacity-building initiatives. The project also focuses on semantic enrichment and knowledge graph evolution, ensuring the system remains scalable, accurate, and adaptable to new data.

Through policy briefs, white papers, and advocacy efforts, the project bridges the gap between scientific research and practical applications, promoting sustainable practices and healthier communities. The combination of cutting-edge technology with participatory approaches in a multidisciplinary context, aims to drive meaningful change at local, national, and international levels, ultimately improving environmental quality and public health outcomes and will thus actively contribute to the Zero Pollution Action plan and the achievement of Climate-neutrality.

Partners:
- Université de Bordeaux
- Health Citizens – European Institute
- Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment
- Bordeaux Metropole
- Kauno Technologijos Universitetas
- Fondation de Lutte Contre le Diabète et les Maladies Non
- University of Labe
- Universite Cheikh Anta Diop De Dakar
- Tiga Bilgi Teknolojileri Anonim Şirketi
- İzmir İnovasyon Ve Teknoloji
- Innovathink Muhendislik San Tic As
- Dai Hoc Y Khoa Pham Ngoc Thach
- University of Waterloo
- Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie – Union E
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche
- Universite Assane Seck de Ziguinchor