A Low-Cost Wearable Connected Health Device for Monitoring Environmental Pollution Triggers of Asthma in Communities with Health Disparities

项目摘要 哮喘影响了2500万美国人，慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)影响了1600万人， 加在一起，每年给美国的医疗系统造成1300亿美元的损失。哮喘在非洲更为普遍 美国人口(10.6%)高于白人人口(7.7%)。贫困程度也有影响，两倍于 贫困门槛低于100%的人的哮喘发病率高于450%的人 门槛。由于空气污染暴露，美国的种族-民族和社会经济健康差距很大 尽管臭氧和颗粒物污染总体上有所减少，但记录在案并持续存在。这 不成比例的暴露反映了几代人的歧视性做法，包括种族隔离 导致有色人种社区更频繁地位于主要空气来源附近的居住政策 污染，包括与工业和交通相关的污染。拟议的研究项目旨在解决健康问题 通过实现对哮喘和其他疾病的环境触发因素的自我监测，实现与空气污染有关的差异 呼吸系统疾病，使患者有能力自我管理他们的疾病。这项研究将 开发和测试具有小尺寸的可穿戴传感器阵列，用于监测个人接触的几种 重要的空气污染物，然后在一小群患有哮喘的非裔美国成年人中试验这一设备。该设备将对机动车交通和工业排放的各种一次和二次污染物敏感。它将使用金属氧化物半导体传感器来测量臭氧， 二氧化氮、挥发性有机化合物以及相对湿度和环境温度。这个 该设备将能够连接到支持蓝牙的智能手机以记录数据和显示数据，但它 会小到可以戴在手腕上。我们将通过以下方式验证该设备对改善健康的效用 招募20名居住在亚特兰大地区并已被诊断出患有哮喘的非洲裔美国成年人。这些 参与者将使用该设备监测他们的空气污染暴露一个月。在这个月里，他们将 每天两次使用商用的小型肺活量计测量他们的肺功能，我们将 提供它们。我们将开发一款智能手机应用程序，以直观的方式清晰地显示空气质量数据 彩色编码显示器。这款应用程序还将包括肺活量测定的肺功能数据，以百分比预测得分 相对于基于年龄、身高、性别和种族的期望值。这个项目的总体目标是演示 可穿戴设备帮助识别与空气污染相关的哮喘诱因的可行性 使哮喘患者能够通过减少暴露来改善他们的健康。

Project Abstract Asthma affects 25 million Americans, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects 16 million, together costing 130 billion USD annually to the US healthcare system. Asthma is more prevalent in African American population (10.6%) than white population (7.7%). Poverty level has an impact as well, with twice as much asthma incidence in people below 100% of the poverty threshold as compared to people above 450% of the threshold. Racial-ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities in the US due to air pollution exposure are well documented and have persisted despite overall decreases in ozone and particulate matter pollution. This disproportionate exposure reflects generations of discriminatory practices including racially-segregated residential policies that result in communities of color being more frequently located near major sources of air pollution, both industrial and transportation-related. The proposed research project seeks to address health disparities related to air pollution by enabling self-monitoring of environmental triggers of asthma and other respiratory diseases, so that the patients are empowered for self-management of their disease. This study will develop and test a wearable sensor array with a small form-factor for monitoring personal exposure to several important air pollutants, and then pilot this device in a small panel of African-American adults with physiciandiagnosed asthma. The device will be sensitive to a variety of primary and secondary pollutants from both motorvehicle traffic and industrial emissions. It will employ metal oxide semiconductor sensors to measure ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and volatile organic compounds as well as relative humidity and ambient temperature. The device will be able to connect to Bluetooth-enabled smartphones for data logging and display purposes, yet it will be small enough to be worn on the wrist. We will validate the utility of this device for improving health by recruiting 20 African-American adults who live in the Atlanta area and have been diagnosed with asthma. These participants will use the device to monitor their air pollution exposure for one month. During this month, they will also measure their lung function twice per day using a small commercially-available spirometer that we will provide them. We will develop a smartphone application that will clearly display air quality data in an intuitive color-coded display. The app will also include lung function data from spirometry in a percent-predicted score relative to expected values based on age, height, sex and race. The overall goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a wearable device to assist in the identification of air pollution-related asthma triggers and to empower asthma patients to improve their health by reducing exposure.