Design, methods, and baseline characteristics of a pilot, randomized, controlled trial of the effects of an electronic monitoring device on medication adherence in children with asthma

A scoping review of mHealth monitoring of pediatric bronchial asthma before and during COVID-19 pandemic

“…This was in contrast to conclusions by the 2017 Editorial [56] that observed only a moderate quality in most studies on mHealth in asthma. In contrast, among the publications included in this scoping review, 40% of the studies [35] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] (i.e., 10 out 25) utilized different types of randomized controlled study designs. Furthermore, some randomized trials had similar primary outcomes (e.g., Asthma Control Test score or exacerbation frequency; Supplemental Table 7), potentially enabling a systematic review on this subject.…”

“…A sizable minority of the included studies [35] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] (10 out of 25, 40%) utilized a randomized controlled study design, while the remainder of the publications used different kinds of uncontrolled intervention studies or feasibility studies. Patient monitoring, at least in the studies that reported this parameter, ranged between 2 weeks [32] and one year [39] , [43] .…”

“…The majority of included publications (15 out 25, or 60%) targeted the objective of asthma self-management. These publications, not surprisingly, only represented the studies that utilized mHealth apps [46] , [47] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] , [49] , [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] . Indeed, in the included publications, mHealth apps provided an opportunity to equip the patient with a versatile asthma control tool, whose applicability ranged from simpler tasks (e.g., quality assurance of inhalation technique, asthma treatment plan, asthma education) to more sophisticated options, such as instantaneous feedback to the patient about the level of his or her asthma control, and a timely advice from a healthcare professional (see Supplemental Table 5 for details).…”

“…Finally, at least 7 (28%) publications [38] , [39] , [42] , [43] , [45] , [49] , [52] presented descriptions of online platforms which comprised mHealth apps and web portals. The former was utilized by the patients, while the latter by healthcare professionals.…”

The impact of a digital wheeze detector on parental disease management of pre-school children suffering from wheezing—a pilot study

“…Several digital technologies have been or are currently being developed to support parents and health professionals, especially at the primary care level, in the management of wheezing disorders. These include symptom diaries [ 9 , 10 ] and asthma action plans accessible within mobile health applications for smartphones [ 11 ], adherence support via gamification [ 12 ], digital therapeutics such as smarthalers [ 13 ], or digitally connected diagnostic tools like wirelessly connected peak flow meters [ 14 ], digital stethoscopes for health care professionals [ 15 ] or mobile wheeze [ 16 , 17 ], and cough detectors [ 18 ]. The market for mobile phone applications is growing remarkably every year, but no quality control system is in place to distinguish guideline-based medical support from arbitrarily compiled or simply wrong content [ 19 ].…”