Struggling With Asthma? There's An App For That

Some illnesses are hard to ignore, with constant symptoms that become instant reminders when a medication dose is missed. Others, like asthma, can seem to disappear for a while, until they strike suddenly and severely, with potentially life-threatening results. Medications can control symptoms, but when feeling well, anyone can forget to take doses, and that's when patients get into trouble. More than 6 million Americans have asthma, and every year hospital emergency rooms see 2 million visits for the condition - half from kids. That works out to about one potentially devastating incident every 15 to 20 seconds, often triggered when someone with asthma comes into sudden contact with one of several different triggers -- like pollen or smoke -- when they least expect it. There's an app for that At Nationwide Children's Hospital, we have seen this happen far too often, but the problem is not so easily fixed. My colleague Dr. Nabeel Farooqui came up with the idea for an app, one that could remind patients to take their meds and guide them when problems strike. It turns out he was not alone - there are a lot of apps for asthma sufferers, but not all can be trusted to help. Our team decided to not only create an asthma app, but to run clinical studies to make sure it actually does what we want: change behavior and ultimately, reduce asthma attacks. Before developing a product people will actually use, it makes sense to understand the problems those users will face....
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news