The Lungy Health app, developed by Pi-a and University College London scientists, aims to help people manage and monitor respiratory diseases, including long Covid, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The app is unique in that it uses the camera and microphone together to measure breathing, providing more data for more accurate and consistent measurement of breathing function. Compliance with traditional treatment methods, which involve providing patients with a worksheet and an incentive spirometer, is generally poor. The app could help patients self-manage their condition at home and potentially replace the need for occasional spirometer tests to check how the patient is getting on. Respiratory diseases and mental illness place a significant burden on NHS services and society, with the cost of respiratory illness estimated at £9.9 billion a year before Covid. Lungy Health is a promising solution for self-management of asthma and respiratory diseases.
How a New App Could Revolutionize the Management of Long Covid, Asthma, and COPD in the UK
Developers are predicting that a new respiratory app designed to manage and monitor long Covid, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) could be available to the public by the end of this year. The app is set to undergo trials in May, and if they prove successful, it could benefit over ten million people in the UK who are currently suffering from respiratory diseases.
The Lungy Health app has been developed by a London-based startup, Pi-a, in collaboration with University College London scientists. It uses screen visuals to guide patients through breathing exercises to help treat their condition, and its camera and microphone can monitor a person’s breathing and track their progress. This could significantly reduce the need for face-to-face checkups and therapy.
The app is set to be piloted in two separate studies in May, with outpatients at the Royal Free Hospital in North London and from GP practices in the area. If the trials prove successful, it could quickly become available to millions of people in the UK suffering from respiratory diseases.
According to Luke Hale, the main developer of the Lungy Health app and an NHS doctor and UCL researcher, around one in five UK adults experience respiratory symptoms such as breathlessness, and many of these could benefit from the new app. Long Covid alone affects up to two million people in the UK, while asthma affects eight million, and COPD affects 1.2 million.
The annual cost of asthma and COPD to the NHS in the UK is estimated at £3 billion and £1.9 billion, respectively. With the Lungy Health app, however, patients can have easy access to respiratory care and manage their conditions at a significantly lower cost.
Dr. Hale expressed his excitement about the app, stating that it is scalable and accessible to everyone with a smartphone. Even patients with poorly controlled breathing conditions or new lung problems can access and use the technology, potentially leading to a faster recovery.
Furthermore, the Lungy Health app may potentially be incorporated into other platforms worldwide. US companies and startups have expressed interest in integrating the app’s breath recognition technology into their platforms, allowing for faster scalability.
Professor Tony Young, National Clinical Director for Innovation NHS England and Founder NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme, who is not involved in the app but is familiar with the project, expressed his excitement about the technology and its potential for respiratory patients. With the Lungy Health app, managing and monitoring respiratory diseases in the UK could take a major leap forward.
Lungy Health App: An Innovative Solution to Help Patients Self-Manage Respiratory Diseases
The Lungy Health app, developed by a London-based startup, Pi-a, and University College London scientists, could revolutionize the management of respiratory diseases such as long Covid, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the UK. The app uses screen visuals to guide patients through breathing exercises that can help treat their conditions, and its camera and microphone can monitor a person’s breathing and progress. The app is set to undergo trials in May, and if successful, could be available to the public by the end of the year.
Respiratory diseases put a significant strain on the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), with an estimated annual cost of £3 billion for asthma and £1.9 billion for COPD. Technologies like Lungy Health could help ease this burden by empowering patients to monitor and self-manage their conditions at home.
The Lungy Health app will be trialled in two separate studies in May among outpatients at the Royal Free Hospital in North London and from GP practices in the area. If successful, it could quickly become available to the more than ten million people in the UK suffering from respiratory diseases.
The app’s exercises have therapeutic benefits associated with breathing exercise, such as reducing breathing complications, strengthening breathing muscles, reducing chest infections, and increasing capacity for exercise. It also has psychological benefits, including improved mindfulness and reduced stress and anxiety.
The app’s earlier “wellness” prototype, which used breathing exercises to help with anxiety and stress, demonstrated the app’s potential success, with over 10,000 downloads and a 4.9-star feedback rating since December 2020. The Lungy Health app has a range of visuals to help relax the user and guide them through the process while keeping it interesting.
Dr. Luke Hale, an NHS doctor, UCL researcher, and founder of Pi-a, hopes that the app can enable many more people to have “breathing exercise” therapy, and compliance with those breathing exercises can improve significantly. The app could also reduce the strain on the NHS.
The Lungy Health app could also replace the need for occasional spirometer tests, which are typically done in a GP or hospital and involve a plastic device called a spirometer that can only be used once and costs between £15 to £20. The app could provide an early indication of deterioration in lung conditions or show improvement and could potentially be used as a spirometer replacement. A separate trial, also starting in May, will look at the app’s effectiveness as a spirometer replacement.
The Lungy Health app makes the process of self-managing respiratory diseases more fun and easier to stick to. Patients can access and use the technology on their smartphones, potentially leading to a faster recovery.
Professor Tony Young, National Clinical Director for Innovation NHS England and Founder NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Programme, who is not involved in the app but is familiar with the project, believes that innovation is essential to the future of the NHS and that new technologies like Lungy Health can make a significant difference to both staff and patients.
Lungy Health App: A Promising Solution for Self-Management of Asthma and Respiratory Diseases
Asthma + Lung UK has highlighted the urgent need for new ways to deliver asthma care in the UK, with no significant improvement in recent years despite effective treatments. The Lungy Health app, developed by Pi-a and University College London scientists, could be a game-changer in self-managing respiratory diseases. Digital technology, delivered via smartphones, has the potential to help people self-manage their asthma at scale and improve their understanding of their condition.
Breathing exercises can improve physical and psychological health, breathing function, exercise tolerance, and reduce chest infections. However, compliance with traditional treatment methods, which involve providing patients with a worksheet and an incentive spirometer, is generally poor. The Lungy Health app aims to increase compliance significantly, and developers claim that the app is unique because it uses the camera and microphone together to measure breathing, providing more data for more accurate and consistent measurement of breathing function.
Respiratory diseases and mental illness place a significant burden on NHS services and society, with the cost of respiratory illness estimated at £9.9 billion a year before Covid. Hospital admissions due to respiratory disease are rising at three times the rate of other admissions, with 10,000 new diagnoses of lung disease in the UK every week.
Other approaches use machine learning on just audio to determine the different breath phases (in, out) and respiratory rate. The Lungy Health app’s unique approach and potential effectiveness make it a promising solution for self-management of asthma and respiratory diseases.
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