AI-Aided Stethoscope May Aid Home Monitoring of Asthma Exacerbations

FRIDAY, Dec. 8, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- An artificial intelligence (AI)-aided home stethoscope provides reliable information on asthma exacerbations, according to a study published in the November/December issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

Andrzej Emeryk, M.D., Ph.D., from the Medical University of Lublin in Poland, and colleagues evaluated home monitoring of asthma exacerbations with the use of an AI-aided stethoscope. The analysis included 149 patients with asthma (90 children and 59 adults).

The researchers found that the best single-parameter discriminators of exacerbations were wheeze intensity for young children (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC], 84 percent), rhonchi intensity for older children (AUC, 81 percent), and survey answers for adults (AUC, 92 percent). The greatest efficacy was seen with a combination of several parameters.

"The AI-aided home stethoscope provides reliable information on asthma exacerbations. The parameters provided are effective for children, especially those younger than 5 years of age," the authors write. "The introduction of this tool to the health care system might enhance asthma exacerbation detection substantially and make remote monitoring of patients easier."

Several authors are employees of StethoMe Sp. z o.o., maker of the device used in the study.

Abstract/Full Text