Chronic obstructive respiratory disease (COPD) affects 10% of the adult population and is a big health concern — the third leading cause of death. It makes it hard to breathe, limits daily activities, and can lead to social isolation. One big problem is that many cases of COPD are missed or diagnosed late, which means people don't get the right treatment in time. In fact, 3 out of 4 people in Europe with COPD remain undiagnosed. The disease worsens without them knowing, which leads to more hospital stays and even death, which costs a lot for healthcare systems apart from the huge impact on patients and their families.
We found out that the tools doctors use to diagnose COPD aren't great for GPs, where this initial diagnosis and case-finding needs to happen. They're complicated and rely on patients doing difficult breathing tests, which often give wrong results. This makes people doubt the technology and leads to COPD being missed because doctors don't use the tests enough.
Our solution is a simple and accurate tool that doesn't need patients to do much at all — just breathe normally. It can be used in any doctor's consultation, especially by non-lung health specialists, like GPs or nurses. It's based on what lung experts already know, and helps doctors make quick and smart decisions about COPD. Diagnosing COPD early and keeping track of it helps doctors guide treatment and educate patients when it can still make a big difference in their lung health. This saves a lot of money for healthcare systems, avoiding expensive hospital visits, and improves patient outcomes.
Our project, SmartRespDx, has three main goals: 1) Gather proof from real medical settings that our solution works well. 2) Get feedback from users to make sure our solution fits their needs. 3) Protect our new ideas and technology.
When we achieve these goals, we will be able to attract investors to help us finish the development and bring our product to market in the EU and elsewhere, so that the people who need it can start using it, and patients can receive early and accurate diagnosis for their lung condition.
