The use of wearable technology to acquire signals for COPD research

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Acquisition of physiological signals with a wearable technology to assist on research aiming to improve early identification of exacerbations in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

• IRAS ID

  247489

• Contact name

  Esther Rodriguez-Villegas

• Contact email

  e.rodriguez@imperial.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Royal Free London NHS FoundationTrust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  2 years, 0 months, 0 days

• Research summary

  Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a respiratory condition which affects approximately 3 million people in the UK and 210 million in the world. The disease is characterized by progressive air flow obstruction and decline of lung function. The resulting narrowing of the airways makes it harder to breathe in and out. COPD is currently the fourth leading cause of death in the world.
  The main reason for hospitalisations associated with COPD is exacerbations (chest infections or a worsening of the underlying symptoms). Severe COPD exacerbations are the second largest cause of emergency admissions in the UK. Mild and moderate exacerbations can be managed outside the hospital but if they are not identified promptly they may progress to breathlessness and in some patients to respiratory failure. Thus, finding modalities for early detection and diagnosis of exacerbations is clearly a priority for current and future COPD research. But these still do not exist. The aim of this study will be to acquire acoustic respiratory signals from COPD patients with a very small wearable device. These signals will be subsequently used to carry out engineering research with the objective of trying to find "fingerprints" in them which could be early indicators of disease exacerbations. If those "fingerprints" were found, subsequent research could focus on trying to create software methods which, together with the use of a small wearable device, would aim at automatically detecting exacerbations when they are at very early stages- prior to the symptoms being evident to the patient- so that clinical intervention could be triggered, in order to optimize the disease outcomes.

• REC name

  HSC REC A

• REC reference

  19/NI/0194

• Date of REC Opinion

  6 Nov 2019

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion