What is myAirCoach

MyAirCoach project seeks to create a patient centred mHeatlh tool to support self-management approaches for asthma. The project will enable healthcare professionals to supervise the patients’ condition in efficiently without disturbing patients’ privacy. MyAirCoach final system will stimulate and increase the asthma self-management awareness and will serve as an exchange platform for patients.

MyAirCoach proposes a novel mHealth tool based on a wireless body sensor network that will be the core element of a new approach to monitor and support asthma patients.

The system will communicate in two senses: 1) to the healthcare professional by observing patients' adherence to medical treatment through physiological and environmental variables and 2) to the patient, as it will provide them with personalised prediction to manage and reduce the risk of asthma exacerbations. The system leverages the ongoing integration and miniaturization of sensors to build an integrated holistic mHealth asthma self-management framework that is expected to become an integral part of the existing clinical procedures and asthma treatment protocols.

Why

• Asthma remains uncontrolled, despite the wide availability of asthma therapies and guidelines and the latest achievements on respiratory diseases monitoring and self-management;
• Difficult long-term asthma management, as it frequently falls short on the goals set by healthcare guidelines and medical experts;
• Incorrect self-management, asthma patients might use information online to understand and treat the disease, without involving a healthcare professional;
• Asthma needs individualised attention, the optimal asthma treatment depends on managing dynamic parameters like the patient’s physiological state, behavioural factors, environmental parameters and treatment compliance;
• Asthma poses a great burden on patients, those who do not manage to achieve the targets experience a significant impact on their quality of life.

How

myAirCoach is composed of an interdisciplinary research team that will apply the approach to patients in two measurement campaigns and three pilot sites in Europe. More specifically, the project will focus on looking to innovate:

• computational modelling of the pulmonary system and patient-specific models based on dynamical physiological, behavioural and environmental variables,
• wireless sensors to provide up-to-date physiological, environmental and behavioural measurements,
• prediction tools to understand asthma triggers in outdoor and indoor environments,
• self-management and efficient personalised guidance and supporting mechanisms to control asthma.

For Whom

The project is expected to demonstrate significant impact in various domains ranging from the patients themselves, healthcare professionals, associations and the pharmaceutical companies. At a glance:

• Patients will receive optimal strategies to treat their asthma based on their own models, the estimated disease progression and their evolution, all by their doctor. Through MyAirCoach community, they will also be able to communicate with other patients and exchange their experience to reduce the burden of any social difficulties that might be provoked by asthma.
• The families of the patients will be better informed about the condition of their loved ones and will be able to secure accurate information about asthma and the proper use of medication.
• Clinicians and practitioners will be equipped with new tools and components that will provide a detailed and accurate picture of the patient’s condition outside the clinic. Analytical tools will support their decisions based on the estimates of every patient asthma evolution. Doctors experienced coupled with automated analysis tools, will provide the possibility to provide real-time feedback based on the current condition of the patient.
• Pharmaceutical companies will directly evaluate their new medicines using the modelling approaches developed under myAirCoach project.
• Healthcare systems will see the cost of asthma reduced in the long term, based on the optimisation of treatments, the increased knowledge of patients and the adherence to their medication schedule.

By Whom

MyAirCoach consortium is composed by  3 clinical partners specialised in respiratory medicine and asthma treatment, 3 ICT research and academic organizations of scientific excellence, 3 medical private manufacturers focused on improving treatments for patients with inflamed airways, 2 asthma and respiratory diseases patients’ associations and 1 respiratory and allergy pharmaceutical company.

When

The project started on the 1st of January 2015 and will last 3 years.