Analysis, modelling and sensing of both physiological and environmental factors for the customized and predictive self-management of Asthma

Project Information

myAirCoach

Grant agreement ID: 643607

DOI

10.3030/643607

Project closed

EC signature date 5 December 2014

Start date 1 January 2015

End date 30 June 2018

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Health, demographic change and well-being

Total cost

€ 4 581 378,00

EU contribution

€ 4 581 378,00

Coordinated by

ETHNIKO KENTRO EREVNAS KAI TECHNOLOGIKIS ANAPTYXIS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - myAirCoach (Analysis, modelling and sensing of both physiological and environmental factors for the customized and predictive self-management of Asthma)

Reporting period: 2017-01-01 to 2018-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

MyAirCoach project seeked to create a patient centered mHeatlh tool to support self-management approaches for asthma. The project has enabled healthcare professionals to supervise the patients’ condition in an efficiently way without disturbing patients’ privacy. MyAirCoach final system is capable of stimulating and increasing the asthma self-management awareness and can serve as an exchange platform for patients. MyAirCoach has proposed a novel mHealth tool based on a wireless body sensor network that could be the core element of a new approach to monitor and support asthma patients. The system enables communication 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 can provide them with personalized prediction to manage and reduce the risk of asthma exacerbation.
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 and 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 optimization of treatments, the increased knowledge of patients and the adherence to their medication schedule.
An extensive assessment of the final system has proven the usability of the final infrastructure. The myAirCoach system seems to be acceptable by the end-users, whereas it exhibits a clinically relevant and statistically significant improvement in asthma control and severe asthma exacerbations, based on the evaluation campaigns results. The system can be further enhanced based on the comments of the end-users involved in real-life scenarios.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The work performed during the project is summarized as follows:
1 Definition of the test campaign methodology
2 Hardware and software design of the MyAirCoach monitoring devices
3 Definition of the patient modelling and representation framework
4 Assembly of the Advisory Patient Forum
5 Finalization of the MyAirCoach system’s architecture
6 Definition of the nutritional and dietary guidelines
7 Final version of the MyAirCoach information visualization and decision support system
8 Final version of the personal guidance and support components for the MyAirCoach application
9 Smart sensor-based inhaler and air quality monitor devices
10 Final integrated version of the MyAirCoach system and documentation of basic interfaces between modules
11 Definition of the assessment protocol of the MyAirCoach evaluation campaigns
12 Feasibility testing of the system and evaluation campaigns
13 Formulation of the exploitation and business plan for the safeguarding of intellectual property that has been produced by the MyAirCoach project
14 Horizontal activities for the dissemination of the project’s activities

The myAirCoach consortium has identified the following exploitable project assets or results of the project:
Tangible Assets
• myAirCoach clinical state prediction engine and Risk assessment (myAirCoach DSS)
• Novel Medical Information Visualisation Tools
• Personalised guidance and support module (clinical platform including also tele consultations)
• The myAirCoach mobile community platform
• Signal processing and data collection module
• Integrated Sensor-based inhaler device
• The Air Quality monitor for the environmental monitoring
• Integrated myAirCoach mHealth (overall system)
• myAirCoach mobile app
Intangible Assets
• myAirCoach knowledge and expertise of the myAirCoach consortium in clinical state prediction and personalized guidance & support of asthma patients based on integrating data from various sources which was achieved during the project lifecycle.

Exploitation of the myAirCoach results will be in the following directions:
• The academic and research organisations will exploit the results of the project both directly and indirectly. While a direct exploitation may be achieved by means of protecting the knowledge created by them, the indirect exploitation may be realised by increasing their leadership in their respective areas of research
• The exploitation plans of the industrial partners can be also divided to direct exploitation of the technical developments and indirect exploitation by leveraging potential business strengths through the association with other partners.
• Finally, the end user authorities/partners will explore possible exploitation plans through their members. The use of an open source software model for some of the project outcomes will further encourage the exploitation of the myAirCoach project’s results by interested parties.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The following aspects have been extended beyond the state of the art:
1 Definition of a protocol for observational studies focusing on the use of home monitoring and mHealth systems for the prediction of asthma deterioration.
2 Introduction of an innovative approach for the encoding of dense 3D meshes with applications medical field and patient modelling.
3 Analysis of the perspectives of patients and healthcare professionals on mHealth for asthma self-management.
4 Analysis on the correlations of deaths from chronic respiratory diseases and carbondioxide emissions per capita.
5 Introduction of a novel approach for substance deposition assessment in obstructed pulmonary system.
6 Introduction of a novel approach forrule editor for ARDEN syntax generation towards a more effective self-management of asthma disease patients.
7 Assessment of machine learning algorithms for self- management of asthma and prediction of asthma control status.
8 Introduction of a novel approach for the verification of an embedded sensor node system-on-chip.
9 Introduction of a novel approach for monitoring medication adherence using content based audio classification.
10 Analysis of inhaler use in chronic airways disease.

myAirCoach Vision for Asthma Self-Management