Improving asthma care with digital tools

Remote patient monitoring is becoming increasingly integrated into healthcare systems, allowing clinicians to monitor patients' symptoms and biomarkers remotely. We’ve seen our own technology almost double clinical capacity and reduce readmission rates by >30%.² 

As asthma is a condition that often needs constant management, remote patient monitoring can help reassure patients that their clinical team is always keeping an eye on their symptoms and looking for any signs of exacerbation or attacks. It can also reduce the burden of hospital visits and check ups, allowing patients freedom to spend time with their families and do the things they love. 

It is recommended that asthma patients who have their condition under control should visit a clinician every six months, and those with uncontrolled asthma should attend more frequently.³ Some studies suggest patients should go into a clinic for check ups every three to four months.⁴ This may not be an issue for some people, but for those who live in rural areas far away from a clinic, these visits can be costly and time consuming. For parents of children with asthma, this could mean their child misses a day of school, or they miss a day of work, which poses a real problem for lower income households. This is where remote patient monitoring could  help to address these inequalities in healthcare with programmes designed to reach everyone taking into account any potential digital divides. 

Digitalising asthma research

Recruitment to asthma clinical trials is challenging due to the need for increasingly specific patient populations with complex treatment protocols. Often participants will live far away from the site, are typically of working age and so have less time to travel back and forth or may have childcare responsibilities. A decentralized clinical trial model may help overcome some of these issues in asthma research, while also making it easier for people to take part in research so that new treatments can get to patients faster.

Decentralized clinical trials enable researchers to gather real-world data as they study patients while they’re going about their everyday lives. This helps to  provide much deeper insights into asthma patients’  condition in a real-life setting and will contribute to advancing research and finding novel cures. 

Supporting asthma patients’ care journey

Using Huma’s EU MDR class IIb-certified software as a medical device (SaMD), medtech and pharma companies can build customisable digital health platforms that support asthma patients throughout their entire care journey. 

Digital health technologies can help patients manage their condition more effectively, improving adherence with medication, digitally connecting inhaler devices to monitor effectiveness of inhalations, monitoring the air quality around them, and symptom trackers to allow patients to spot trends and potential triggers of their asthma.

Patients are also given access to educational support, helping them to better understand their condition and feel motivated to take control of their own health. 

Digital health technologies have the potential to transform asthma care and research, providing patients with more convenient, effective, and personalised support. As digital health technologies continue to evolve, they will play an increasingly important role in improving asthma care and research.

To learn more about Huma’s digital health solutions, contact us below.