Asthma attacks may be cut by half with digital tools

Digital interventions that help people take their asthma medication better, such as 'smart' inhalers or text messages, may cut the risk of asthma attacks by half, finds a new review of evidence led by UCL, Queen Mary University of London, and University of Auckland researchers. The new Cochrane Review paper found that digital interventions improve medication adherence by 15% and can yield a clinically-significant improvement in asthma control. The researchers say their findings support continued investigation of how to improve digital interventions so that they could be used more widely to help people manage their asthma. Lead author Dr Amy Chan (UCL School of Pharmacy and University of Auckland) said: "By pulling together evidence from numerous studies from around the globe, we have found that digital tools can help people to take their asthma medication more effectively, which subsequently improves their health. "Asthma is the most common lung condition worldwide, affecting over 330 million people, and yet despite effective treatments many people are not taking their medications in the most optimal manner. We hope that digital tools can help to make it easier for people to manage their health." For the paper, published by the Cochrane Library as part of their database of systematic reviews, the researchers reviewed evidence from 40 randomised controlled trials across more than 50 years of research on four continents, with data from over 15,000 adults and children with asthma.