$3.1 million grant to fund research on children’s use of asthma app

Arkansas Children’s Research Institute has announced it will use a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study during a five-year period how smartphone technology can empower children with asthma to use self-management strategies to improve their health.

Researchers will examine the effectiveness of a personalized, interactive app in reducing asthma morbidity among patients who have an increased risk for asthma attacks.

The study will compare outcomes of patients using the app to outcomes of patients receiving traditional paper instructions for home asthma care. The proposed app will provide real-time, personalized feedback, asthma education, data logging and tracking capabilities. Researchers will also examine how effective it is to share data from the app with the participants’ primary care providers.

Patients will receive recommendations about caring for acute symptoms and reminders about medication and prescription refills.

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that can be serious and even life-threatening. It cannot be cured, but it can be managed.

Dr. Tamara Perry, lead researcher for the project at the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, is medical director of Arkansas Children’s telemedicine program and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ College of Medicine.

“Ultimately, we’re looking for a solution that will give adolescents real-time access to their personalized health information and allow them to take wellness into their own hands,” Perry said in a news release. “If successful, we will be able to design additional apps that are applicable to other age groups and patients with other chronic medical conditions. Not only do we have the potential to help asthma patients in Arkansas, but our hope is to impact the lives of children around the world.”

The pilot studies for the project were funded by University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Translational Research Institute, the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute and Arkansas Biosciences Institute.