How does the New Asthma App Work?

There is no doubt that the mobile phone has become one of the focal points of STEM advances for the 21st century consumer. It has the potential to act as a beacon for our personal internet of things, as well as enabling the monitoring of locations, activity and even our health as never before.

GSK is working to develop

new apps that have the potential to help people manage their health on the go using smartphones. Healthcare is one of the biggest and fastest growing app trends, and one of GSK’s first areas of focus is respiratory disease.

With external factors such as the weather or pollen counts to consider – as well as the need to keep track of medications, tracking symptoms, and appointments – the mobile phone is the best option for many respiratory sufferers to monitor the things that matter.

Asthma is a condition that can worsen in a short time period, so being able to assess and record symptoms on the move is important.

We designed MyAsthma so you can connect it with leading wearable devices and popular fitness apps 

 

The award-winning MyAsthma app has been designed to help people take control of their asthma. Asthma sufferers can record their symptoms and compare them alongside measures of things including pollen, pollution and the weather to see if there is any correlation, so they can spot patterns and identify triggers. That information could then be used by a health professional to help them limit the impact of their illness.

The MyAsthma app also connects with various other types of healthcare apps on smartphones, including Apple Health and other fitness trackers, to allow gathering of as much information as possible about the factors which could influence symptoms.

Kai Gait, global digital director at GSK explains: “Apps are becoming increasingly sophisticated and as more people use them to help manage their health, we found that people wanted to connect their health and fitness apps together.

“We designed MyAsthma so you can connect it with leading wearable devices and popular fitness apps, bringing your data together to understand how asthma may affect your daily activities and sleep. Overlay this with environmental data and information relating to your asthma triggers, and MyAsthma will give you relevant information to help inform how you manage your disease.”

Currently 5.4 million people suffer from asthma in the UK, and 1.1 million of them are children. Every ten seconds someone has a potentially life-threatening asthma attack and three people die from one every day.

But the apps are not just a one-way street between a patient and their symptoms, the information that wearable tech is collecting can help scientists research into a variety of areas, with masses of data about large groups available.

GSK is working with its partners at the Nottingham Respiratory Research Unit, based at the University of Nottingham, to explore how the app can help them understand more about asthma.

The app has won the AXA PPP Healthcare Health Tech & You Trending Award 2017, and the judges concluded: “MyAsthma is the first pharma-supported grade-one medical device as a smartphone app.”

Entry for the 2017 STEM Awards is now closed, but you can find more careers advice and opportunities at tgr.ph/stemawards