A new smart asthma inhaler with an audio-visual function has dramatically improved child and adolescent use of preventative asthma medication.
The users also experienced significant improvements to their symptoms, well-being and quality of life, and needed their reliever medication less frequently.
The University of Auckland study, funded by Cure Kids and the Health Research Council of New Zealand, showed a significant improvement in night time awakening, coughing and wheezing.
Professor Ed Mitchell, Cure Kids Chair of Child Health Research and supervisor of the study’s lead author, Amy Chan, says he is “absolutely staggered by the size of the effect". The participants also reported taking part in more sports and family activities. Parents reported feeling less frightened by their child’s asthma.
New Zealand has the second highest rates of asthma in the world and one in four Kiwi children experiences asthma symptoms. Despite this, regular adherence to asthma medication is poor.
New Zealand digital health company Nexus6 Ltd created a new Smartinhaler device called the SmartTrack, which was used in the study. The device has 14 different ringtones, which are cycled so users don’t get reminder fatigue. The SmartTrack reminder is only triggered when a dose is missed.
The results were published this month in The Lancet Respiratory Medical Journal.
The randomised controlled trial recruited 220 children between the ages of six and 15 who presented to emergency departments with asthma symptoms.
The study was random with half of the participants receiving a SmartTrack device for use with their preventative or ‘orange’ inhaler that had the audiovisual elements turned on, and the other half receiving the same device with the audiovisual elements turned off.
Participants were followed up every 2 months for six months and general asthma control was checked.
News article courtesy of the University of Auckland