APP-based Medical Device for Education and Training of Inhalation Technique

Summary

Primary aim: To investigate if app-based education and training of inhalation technique improves the rate of successful inhalation techniques compared with control group at 6-12 weeks follow-up visit.

Secondary aims: To evaluate the feasibility, usability, and safety of the investigational during the study period.

Study design: Two-armed, parallel-designed, individual single-blinded stratified randomisation by inhaler (DPI/MDI/both DPI and MDI) controlled trial with assignment (1:1) to (1) standard care and app-based education and training of inhalation technique or (2) standard education of inhalation technique over 6-12 weeks.

Subjects: Subjects from the age of 16 years with documented diagnosis of asthma and/or COPD, daily treated with dry powder inhaler (DPI) or metered dose inhaler (MDI), or both, will be invited to voluntarily participate. Exclusion criteria is age \<16 years, no access to use BankID or similar electronic personal identification service, not using smartphone of type Android or iPhone, plan to stop use DPI and/or MDI the following 6-12 weeks from inclusion. No able to independently handle and inhale through DPI or MDI device.

Total sample size: Eighty subjects (females and males) with daily treatment for COPD or asthma will be sufficient, based on the assumption of 25% percentage improvement in success rate of correct inhalation technique in the interventional group compared with control group (75% versus 50%) with 80% power at 5% significance level, including dropouts at 6-12 weeks follow-up visit.

Intervention: At the baseline visit patients will be randomised to app-based intervention consisting of education and training of inhalation technique of all inhalers used on daily basis (the inhalation app-module). Stratified randomisation based on type of inhaler(s); MDI, DPI or both MDI and DPI will be applied. The intervention is the inhalation app-module, which is a medical device that is embedded the AsthmaTuner app. The AsthmaTuner app is a CE-marked cloud-based system, provided by MediTuner AB in Stockholm, Sweden. The intervention group will be instructed to use the inhalation app-module on daily basis to improve their inhalation technique.

Control group: Standard education of inhalation technique using list of standardised criteria and non-app-based education of inhaler technique.

Endpoints: Primary endpoint is the rate of subjects with successful inhalation techniques based on subjective critical endpoints (CIP Table 2) and the following objective endpoints at the 6-12 weeks follow up visit:

* DPI: PIF \> 30 L/Min, time to PIF \<0.5 seconds measured with the investigational device.
* MDI: inspiration time (\> 3 seconds) and PIF less than 60 L/Min measured with the investigational device.

Procedures: At baseline, a trained respiratory nurse will subjectively assess and train each patient's inhalation technique according to defined criteria of device handling (standard education). The AsthmaTuner app is downloaded to a smartphone or tablet computer (Ipad) that is wirelessly (Bluetooth) connected to a home spirometer. In this study the Bluetooth spirometer AsthmaTuner from MIR will be used. Education and training of inhalation technique will include measurement of inhalation flow with an adjustable resistance mounted on the spirometer, Airflow Trainer (MIR). The app gives instruction to set the resistance, so it corresponds to the selected inhaler. Questionnaires and interviews will collect information about the feasibility, safety and experienced usability of the investigational device.

Analysis: The rate of subjects with successful inhalation technique at 6-12-week visit determined by fulfilling objective and subjective critical endpoints in intention-to-treat approach. The effect of using the inhalation app-module will be analysed with logistic regression analysis across randomisation groups. The secondary analysis of feasibility and the experienced benefit of using the inhalation app-module in clinical practice and for patient's education and training of inhalation technique is estimated on a Likert scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (strongly agree) and presented as mean and median scores.

Conditions

• Asthma (Part 1)
• COPD

Interventions

DEVICE

App-based education and training of inhalation technique

The use of MDI or DPI requires different inhalation techniques and flows, which makes correct inhalation technique more challenging if patient use different types of inhaler devices. Healthcare providers may assess inhalation technique by observation and in addition PIF may be measured by manual meter. However, this does not capture all relevant information about patient's ability to correctly inhale medication and handle prescribed inhaler(s) and do not give instant and automated feedback on the inhalation technique to user. For instance, DPI users should reached a sufficiently high PIF within the first 0.4 seconds \[18\] and MDI users inhalation time should exceed 4 seconds in adults (2-3 seconds in children) in order to optimize lung deposition of the aerosol during a low PIF \[19\]. The app-based inhalation medical device gives automated feedback on inspiratory flows that are specific DPI and MDI devices.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Uppsala University Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Karolinska Institutet

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

16 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-06-01

Primary Completion

2027-06-01

Completion

2027-06-01

Countries

• Sweden

Study Locations