A CELLPHONE-based system that prompts asthma sufferers to carry out regular measurements of lung capacity could help prevent serious asthma attacks.
The idea, now undergoing clinical trials in the Thames Valley, to the west of London, is part of a plan to monitor asthma sufferers continually, instead of only intermittently, during infrequent visits to clinics. This should help lower the risk of a serious attack, says Lionel Tarassenko, chief technologist at E-San, the Oxford-based firm running the trial.
More than half the 3.4 million asthma sufferers in Britain need to monitor their condition daily so that a doctor can decide whether to change their medication. Monitoring involves blowing into a mechanical flow meter and recording the result on a lung-capacity chart twice a day. The charts are examined by a doctor every few months. But some people, especially children, don’t take readings often enough, and can sometimes read the meter incorrectly. “We hope using mobile phones, will make monitoring a ‘cooler’ option, especially for kids,” says Tarassenko.
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E-San has designed software that lets a new generation cellphone capture data from an electronic flow meter. By next year, the meter itself will be no bigger than an asthma inhaler (pictured). Software in the cellphone prompts the user to blow into the meter twice a day. If they don’t, the software’s icon gradually swells to fill the screen to remind them to use it.
The XDA cellphone, from Britain’s O2 network, that is used in the study is a combined pocket PC and GPRS phone. It sends the readings to E-San’s offices where two key breathing parameters are analysed by computer. If the software detects any early signs of an impending asthma attack, the details are emailed to the patient’s GP, who can then text or email the patient if action is needed.
“Many teenagers are quite embarrassed by their asthma and don’t like being labelled ‘asthmatic’. They may well like this cellphone idea,” says a spokesperson for Britain’s National Asthma Campaign. If it proves successful, E-San hopes to extend its technology to monitor other conditions, such as diabetes and cystic fibrosis.