Introducing MyAsthma: The World’s First Asthma App Certified as a Mobile Medical Device (Class I)

MyAsthma

MyAsthma

Designed with healthcare experts, the MyAsthma app allows people to track and understand their disease while monitoring potential environment and lifestyle asthma triggers.


The UK has some of the highest asthma rates in Europe with nearly 5.4m Brits –one in 11 children (1.1 million) and 1 in 12 adults (4.3 million) –presently receiving treatment for asthma.

Asthma attacks hospitalise someone every 8 minutes and on a daily average, 185 people are admitted to a hospital because of asthma attacks in the UK; and nearly three Brits on average die from asthma every day.

Every 20 minutes, a child is admitted to a hospital in the UK because of an asthma attack; and every classroom has three children on average suffering with asthma.

The NHS is spending approximately £1 billion every year to treat and care for people with asthma.

The MyAsthma app has been designed to be the most clinically relevant, connected and environmentally contextual mobile medical device application ever developed in respiratory care. Data from the app builds a personal asthma summary for the person using it, by capturing environmental, pollen and activity data, the app can allow users to record and see factors that may trigger their asthma.

Patients can also share the information from the app with their healthcare professional and allow them to better understand the status of their asthma.

The MyAsthma app, can also be used by carers who can track up to five people’s conditions on their smartphone. Designed to fit into everyday life the app connects with leading wearables such as Fitbit, but also fitness services including Apple Health and Strava to understand exercise and sleep information.The app by GSK is free to download from the UK Apple App Store and it is compatible with iPhones running iOS 9+.

We have on hand Dr. Dominick Shaw who was part of the team from The University of Nottingham that co-developed the app; he has also published several research papers on severe asthma to further the progress of the disease monitoring and management, as well as Kai Gait, co-developer of the app from GSK.

(The World’s First Asthma App Certified as a Mobile Medical Device (Class I). Class I is self-certified, so this meant GSK built, documented, tested and monitor the app with rigorous processes and ongoing validation. They registered the app through the UK with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) being the controlling body).

“The Hygiene Hypothesis” Are we too clean for our own good?

the hygiene hypothesis

the hygiene hypothesis

Are we too clean for our own good?

Many people think our obsession with cleanliness is to blame for the rise in allergies such as hay fever, eczema and asthma.

The idea is that modern hygiene standards have reduced our exposure to good and bad germs, which can help strengthen the immune system, the body’s mechanism for keeping us healthy.

Over the past 20 years there has been a rise in allergies, and no-one really knows why. Around one in four people in the UK suffers from an allergy at some point in their lifetime and numbers are increasing every year.

Research suggests that exposure to germs is only one possible reason for this and diet, lack of exercise, our environment, use of antibiotics and a family history of allergies may play a bigger role.

But what is increasingly clear from the evidence is that hygiene standards should not be relaxed to try to reduce the risk of developing an allergy.

Are we being too clean?

No. It is very important that we maintain good standards of personal and home hygiene.

Good hygiene is about avoiding infection and preventing the spread of infection to others. Good hygiene isn’t about being dirt-free and doesn’t require being obsessively clean. Good hygiene is about preventing the spread of germs at times and in places and situations where it really matters, such as when preparing food, after using the toilet, after sneezing and when someone’s ill with an infection.

Find out how to prevent germs from spreading.

 

Where did this idea of being ‘too clean’ originate?

The idea is based on “the hygiene hypothesis”, first proposed in a 1989 study by Prof David Strachan, which suggests that a lack of childhood exposure to harmful germs and fewer childhood infections are to blame for the rise in allergies.

Although it is catchy, the phrase “hygiene hypothesis” is somewhat misleading and it has been wrongly used in the media to suggest that modern hygiene standards are bad for our health.

It is important that we do not relax our personal and home hygiene standards. Exposure to germs is only one of several reasons that could explain the rise in allergies and may not be the most important one.

Check an interactive guide on hygiene hypothesis from the International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene.

Can homes really be ‘too clean’?

No amount of cleaning can rid the home of germs. As fast as they are removed by cleaning, new germs return via humans and pets, contaminated food, the outside air etc. The idea that we now live in sterile homes is totally wrong. It’s impossible to sterilise our homes.

 

Why is hygiene important?

Good hygiene is critical in stopping the spread of disease-causing germs, such as colds and flu, tummy bugs like campylobacter, salmonella and E. coli O157, in the home and beyond, on food, from our pets and between people. Particular care should be taken to protect at-risk groups such as babies, whose immune systems have not fully developed, and people with a weakened immune system because of illness or medication.

 

Doesn’t exposure to germs strengthen our immune system?

It is thought that exposure to both good and bad germs in the first few years of life helps to develop the immune system – an idea distinct to the hygiene hypothesis. This helps the body to learn how to fight infection and to tell the difference between harmful and harmless substances.

Throughout life, it is also important that our bodies have the right balance of some exposure to both good and bad germs (present in our everyday environment), particularly in our gut and on our skin, to ensure that the immune system is trained to deal with different kinds of substances. Changes in this balance can cause the immune system to react unpredictably and it may find it difficult to tell when it is being attacked.

Maintaining this balance means not being afraid of getting outside and getting dirty sometimes. However, you should take every precaution to reduce your exposure to harmful germs by ensuring good personal and home hygiene, particularly if you are in an at-risk group.

Exposure to germs such as E.coli, norovirus and the measles virus can be very dangerous and can lead to life-threatening illnesses. These types of infection can cause permanent damage to your body and immune system so it cannot fight infection as well when it is attacked again.

People who maintain a healthy lifestyle tend to have a stronger immune system. Lifestyle factors that can weaken the immune system include drinking too much alcohol, poor diet and stress.

But can’t you develop immunity to germs like salmonella, E. coli, flu and so on?

To a certain extent, yes. Coming into contact with a specific harmful germ such as salmonella or measles will cause the body to respond and make antibodies, which neutralise the germ and protect against that particular germ. But deliberately exposing yourself to such germs is risky because you may become very seriously ill before your body can respond and fight the infection – and if you survive you will only have developed immunity against that particular germ.

This is why we developed vaccines so that we can be exposed to small safe doses of germs such as the flu, the measles virus and so on in a carefully controlled way that gives us protection without making us ill.

 

So what else could explain the rise in allergies?

Allergies have risen sharply over the past two decades and we’re not entirely sure why. Changes to the types of germs we come into contact with is only one factor among many that may explain this rise. Other factors include changes in diet and eating allergy-causing foods, where we live, a family history of allergy and how physically active we are.

One theory suggests that we have lost touch with a bunch of good germs, known as “old friends”, that humans evolved alongside back in the Stone Age, when our immune system was still developing. How this may have come about isn’t entirely clear, but measures to protect us from harmful germs – such as public sanitation – may have inadvertently cut us off from these good germs, which live in similar environments.

 

Who are these old friends?

Scientists aren’t entirely sure, but research suggests they include some of the good germs found on the skin, gut and throat area as well as in our outdoor environment, especially the countryside, which may explain why children on farms have less asthma. These old friends are not thought to include harmful germs that spread infectious diseases such as colds, flu, measles, salmonellosis, norovirus etc.

For more information on the old friends theory, read  The Hygiene Hypothesis and its implications for home hygiene, lifestyle and public health (International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene).

 

Should we therefore be more relaxed about hygiene?

Even good old countryside dirt can contain harmful germs. So, relaxing hygiene would only expose us to “new enemies”, like E. coli O104, not our old friends. That would raise the risk of infectious disease and take us back to the days when lives were short and one in four children died before the age of five.

 

So are you less likely to develop allergies if you live on a farm?

There is some evidence that children who grow up on farms develop fewer allergies. The theory is that farms (particularly farm animals) increase exposure to different types of good and bad germs, which stimulate the immune system and reduce the risk that someone will develop an allergy.

Are the chemicals in cleaning products linked to the rise in allergies?

No, there is currently no evidence that links the use of household cleaning products, or their ingredients, such as antibacterial agents, to the rise in allergies, such as hay fever and asthma.

 

Is personal hygiene a likely factor in the rise in allergies?

Bathing and showering does remove germs from our skin but there is no evidence linking frequency of washing, showering or bathing to an increased risk of allergies.

 

Are antibiotics to blame for the rise in allergies?

There is some evidence linking the use of antibiotics with the rise in allergies. It is thought that antibiotics may reduce the amount of germs on our skin and in our gut. This upsets the body’s normal balance and the immune system finds it difficult to tell the difference between harmless and harmful germs.

 

Are vaccines to blame for the rise in allergies?

Vaccines are not thought to be associated with rising allergy levels. Vaccination has saved more lives and prevented more serious diseases than any advance in recent medical history.

Vaccines work by stimulating our immune system to produce antibodies (substances produced by the body to fight disease) without actually infecting us with the disease. As with all new medicines, all vaccines are extensively tested for safety before they’re made routinely available to the general public. Find out more about vaccinations.

 

Are changes in diet to blame for the rise in allergies?

There is some evidence that changes to childhood diets may be responsible for an increase in allergies.

It is thought that introducing foods that can cause an allergy (allergens) such as peanuts, milk and egg during weaning and alongside continued breastfeeding, can reduce the number of children developing allergic disease in later childhood. However, this is only a theory and there are currently a number of studies ongoing around the world that aim to answer this very important question.

Until we know the answer, mothers should continue to follow the current national advice, which is to exclusively breastfeed your baby for around the first six months of their life and not to give them allergenic foods before six months of age, such as peanuts, nuts, seeds, egg, fish, shellfish, milk, soya, wheat (and other cereals that contain gluten such as rye, barley and oats). Find out more about breastfeeding and weaning.

New Asthma Video delivers life-saving message using music and dance

Tapas Mukherjee

Tapas Mukherjee

Tapas Mukherjee[/caption]Tapas Mukherjee, a respiratory registrar at Glenfield Hospital created the video using help from NHS colleagues in his spare time, after winning an award to develop his idea, from The NHS England Regional Innovation Fund in 2014. The video, which highlights hard hitting facts from the National Review of Asthma Deaths Report, aims to reduce the number of patients who are reliant on their emergency blue inhaler, encouraging them to see a doctor or nurse, and switch over to a regular inhaler instead.

Studies have shown that 80% of patients don’t know how to use an inhaler correctly and that using a blue inhaler more than twice a week is associated with increased chances of death.

Tapas explains further: “It’s amazing how many people, both patients and professionals, don’t know how to use inhalers properly. We hope to change that with this video, and if enough people see the message, we expect it will save someone’s life too.”

Mike Morgan, Consultant Physician in Respiratory Medicine at Leicester’s Hospitals and National Clinical Director for Respiratory Medicine for the UK added: “Good inhaler technique is fundamental to the effective treatment of asthma. Many asthma related deaths are related to poor understanding of inhaler therapy. Getting this message across to young people in particular is particularly challenging and I welcome this excellent innovative video.”

According to Asthma UK, someone in the UK suffers from a life threatening attack every ten seconds.

Majority of people who suffer night-time allergies don’t know what’s causing them – Read our interview with expert Amena Warner

Amena Warner

Amena Warner

More than 90% of allergy and asthma sufferers in the UK don’t actually know what triggers their night time allergy and asthma symptoms, a problem which affects almost a third of the population.

The survey revealed 30% of sufferers experience interrupted sleep as a result of their symptoms.

When asked what they think the main triggers are, only 7% answered with dust mite faeces, even though up to a third of the weight of a two year old pillow can be made up of them, and 10 million of the creatures live inside the average bed.

What’s more, a third surveyed by Slumberdown admitted they didn’t even know what a dust mite is with a further 46% confessing to not actually knowing what a dust mite looks like.

In 2012 Allergy UK found that house dust mites were a trigger of an allergic reaction for around 58% of allergy sufferers.

Almost half (42%) thought hay fever was the main trigger, with 26% blaming dust closely followed by moisture in the air (23%).

Many people don’t realise the effects dust mites have on allergies and the fact it’s actually not the mite itself but the droppings which cause symptoms, with each mite producing about 20 of these droppings every day. A significant amount of exposure to house dust mite allergens happens in bed, and they also thrive in humid conditions so taking precautions such as using special bedding, can help prevent any wheezing or poor breathing.
Despite taking practical steps to eliminate dust mites such as vacuuming (49%), taking medication (46%), and opening the windows (41%). The UK could be doing more to help their symptoms, such as using bedding that protects against dust mites.

We interviewed Amena Warner of Allergy UK to mind out more.

PatientTalk.Org – Amena, can I ask, what is an Allergy?

Amena Warner– Well it’s a malfunction if you like of the immune system to something that would be quite natural within the environment or the food we eat. SO the immune system overreacts in an abnormal way to that thing that it’s been sensitives to.

PatientTalk.Org – What is the difference between night time and daytime allergies?

Amena Warner – Well often daytime allergies could be a food, it could be something in the environment, if it’s an outdoor allergen such as pollen causing hay fever symptoms but a night time allergy specifically can often be something within the home and often it’s within that bedroom environment. We’re talking about things like pets or mould but specifically about house dust mite because majority of people who have a night time allergy it’s often the house dust mite that may be contributing to that.

PatientTalk.Org – And why don’t people know about these night time allergies?

Amena Warner – Well if it’s the house dust mite, they might not even think about the house dust mite because they may not know about the house dust mite. Their microscopic little creatures that are a quarter of a millimetre long, so you wouldn’t actually see them with the human eye. So unless anyone told you about house dust mites, you wouldn’t know about them.

PatientTalk.Org – How can people go about avoiding night time and daytime allergies?

Amena Warner – Well first of all, it’s the symptoms you look out for. SO the symptoms; if there’s runny nose, itchy nose, itchy eyes, nasal blockage congestion, tightness of chest, coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath. That would alarm me to think something in the environment at night is causing the allergic problem. Asthma, tightness of chest, cough etc., if that’s left uncontrolled that can be very very dangerous. So they really need to go to the GP and get advice and medication on that. But if they do wake up in the night or early morning with symptoms it might be house dust mite allergies. So there is lifestyle things they can first try and avoid, things like encasing pillows and mattresses in anti-allergy bedding, taking them off very regularly at 60 degrees will kill the house dust mite.

Ventilation, opening windows don’t have the central heating on too high. So cooler, drier conditions are much better as house dust mites like warm humid conditions – they thrive in those conditions. So there the little lifestyle things that people can do to reduce the amount of house dust mite. It won’t eradicate them, because you can’t eradicate house dust mite, they’re in everybody’s household. What we try to do is reduce how many we have if you like. You won’t be able to see them, so you won’t know that they’re there. We have a whole big fact sheet and lots of information on our website.

PatientTalk.Org – Lastly, what is allergy UK and how does it help?

Amena Warner – Allergy UK is patient organisation and were an information charity for people with allergic disease or people may have symptoms that they think may be an allergy so they can find out more information. We do provide a helpline as well so people can phone up and if they want to know where their nearest allergy service is. So we are patient information charity to support people.

PatientTalk.Org – Where can people go for more information?

Amena Warner – https://www.allergyuk.org/ or our helpline number is 01322619898

PatientTalk.Org – Thank you very much Amena.

Amena Warner – Thank you

Asthma – What are the triggers for asthma?

This morning I got a call from a PR agency asking me if I would like to contact and interview with a lady called Amena Warner from a charity called Allergy UK. It is looking at what causes night time triggers of night time asthma. I’ll be publishing the interview next week so do check back!

Anyhow as some background I thought I would share this rather useful infographic on asthma triggers.

If you have asthma (or any other allergies for that matter) can you share your triggers in the comments section below.

Thanks very much in advance.

Asthma Triggers and Hot Spots

From Visually.