Between-Visit Asthma Symptom Monitoring With a Scalable Digital Intervention: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary Medicine
• Digital Health
• Clinical Trials

Background:

• Asthma affects millions globally, with symptom monitoring showing potential benefits but limited adoption.
• Scalable interventions are needed to improve asthma management and patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a mobile health (mHealth) asthma symptom monitoring intervention on asthma-related quality of life and healthcare utilization.
• To assess the effectiveness of a scalable digital health tool in managing asthma symptoms.

Main Methods:

• A randomized clinical trial involving 366 adult asthma patients across 7 primary care clinics.
• Intervention group used an mHealth app for weekly symptom tracking, peak flow monitoring, and trigger logging.
• Usual care group received standard asthma guidance; outcomes compared using robust linear regression.

Main Results:

• The intervention group showed a statistically significant increase in Mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (MiniAQLQ) scores, but it did not meet the minimally important change threshold.
• Exploratory analyses indicated greater improvements in MiniAQLQ scores for subgroups including younger adults, those with low baseline patient activation, and uncontrolled asthma.
• No significant difference in asthma-related healthcare utilization events was observed between the intervention and usual care groups.

Conclusions:

• A scalable mHealth symptom monitoring intervention for asthma did not achieve a minimally important improvement in quality of life.
• The intervention may offer benefits for specific patient subgroups, particularly those with lower baseline activation levels.
• Further research is warranted to optimize digital health interventions for diverse asthma patient populations.