Asthma Home Monitoring

Here at Redecol, we are dedicated to helping patients throughout the world who have respiratory disorders such as asthma and COPD to improve their health through providing easy-to-use home-monitoring solutions. Our team are committed to bring solutions that improve the outcomes for all patients, whilst being cost-effective for healthcare systems from the very start.

Problem Space:

It is estimated that less than 5% of asthmatics routinely use peak flow to monitor their asthma. As a result, there is well recognised poor compliance with asthma management plans and consequently much uncontrolled asthma. An estimated 75% of hospital admissions for asthma are avoidable and up to 90% of deaths from asthma are preventable with effective asthma management.

A peak flow meter is a tool that measures the peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). The PEFR is the amount of air a person can quickly force out of their lungs in one breath. People primarily use PEFR measurements as a guide for managing asthma symptoms. However, doctors may also recommend peak flow measurements for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to determine an increase in symptoms.

Recording peak flow measurements is step one on a patient’s asthma action plan to help treat their condition. To use a peak flow meter, a person must forcefully blow into the device. Monitoring lung function is key in detecting changes in a person's airway, which could indicate a worsening of symptoms of asthma; however, while the peak flow meter is the current mainstay of asthma monitoring it is not routinely used by asthma sufferers for a wide range of reasons. Foremost, the forced exhalation technique required is difficult, especially for someone who is struggling with their breathing. It can even induce an asthma attack. The technique is not possible for young children and is difficult for the elderly (forced exhalation leading to fainting and instances of urinary incontinence in women). Results must be recorded (manually when using a standard device) and trend data for individual patients must be used to guide medication usage.

Effective management starts with effective and compliant monitoring

Redecol's Breathe EasyFlow device uses a unique patented sensor. The device doesn’t need the hard, forced breathing technique that a peak flow meter needs. Just deep controlled breaths. The sensor creates a breath profile shape as a person breathes in and out over the sensor. The shape of this breath profile is analysed to provide information on the patient’s lung function and how symptomatic an asthmatic is.

Redecol’s prototype has been successfully used in several clinical trials and has demonstrated equivalence to the Gold Standard hospital based Spirometry test in identifying changes in lung function.

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