Monitoring asthma at home using the app and smart watch – ICT and Health

Zweddy Home is Zuyderland’s virtual home monitoring and training solution. This allows asthma care to be provided to children at home. The hospital has already provided the first children with their own “asthma kit”.

Preventive treatment of asthma at home

Zuyderlund hopes to use Zuydie Thuis, along with data analysts from the hospital, to identify patterns that indicate an upcoming asthma attack. This knowledge and information should enable a more appropriate response to incoming complaints and their preventive treatment. “Nationally, this will be a unique combination of digital monitoring and training for children with asthma, and is a great addition to our existing asthma care,” says the pediatric asthma team at Zuiderland.

The “Asthma in Children” program was developed in collaboration with Luscii, known for its Thuismeten app. At Zuydie Thuis, this application is combined with a spirometer to measure lung function. The Fitbit smartwatch monitors heart rate, activity, and sleep, among other things. Zuydie Thuis should support parents and (even) children to better recognize complaints themselves so they can act early.

Virtual training and chronic monitoring

In addition to chronic home monitoring during stable asthma, the platform also provides virtual coaching during an asthma attack. In the app, parents and children will also find a lot of information about asthma and what to do in case of complaints. The hospital made a video showing how children are experiencing the home monitoring solution for asthma.

The most common chronic condition in children

In the Netherlands, five to ten percent of all children have asthma. This makes this disease the most common chronic condition among children. Zuyderland also receives a large number of children every year who come to the emergency department or emergency clinic due to an asthma attack. In addition, many children also undergo treatment.

“It is very important that asthma is not limited to these children. This study can help with this and is also ‘at home as much as possible’, which suits Zuderland well, emphasizes the Pediatric Lung Team at Zuderland.”

The added value of home monitoring for the treatment of children with asthma has been investigated and demonstrated several times in recent years. In 2021, Medisch Spectrum Twente also conducted research on this matter. MST has been offering home monitoring for pediatric asthma care for some time. The study showed that home monitoring can help improve treatment for children with asthma.