A new clinical study has found that Kaia Health’s artificial intelligence app successfully decreases symptoms of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
The app, which is currently only available in German but will soon be translated to English and more major languages, provides video-based AI therapy, psychosocial support, patient education and medication tracking, the latte being particularly pertinent as up to 60% of COPD patients do not take their medication correctly.
The peer-reviewed clinical study, published in the International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, found that users who completed 20 therapy days with the Kaia COPD app had a clinically significant benefit in their Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) scores, a medical marker of perceived physical health. After the testing period the digital intervention also improved their scores in other areas, including emotion, mastery, and fatigue.
Unlike traditional COPD therapies, the Kaia COPD app is widely accessible, which means more people globally can benefit from effective, affordable rehabilitation at home, thus receiving better care.
Dr Frank Rassouli of the Hospital St. Gallen, Switzerland, who co-authored the research, said of the app: “The Kaia COPD app has the potential to improve the management of COPD patients either living in remote areas with limited access to conventional pulmonary rehabilitation or where pulmonary rehabilitation is minimal or absent. The app complements any other COPD treatment as it empowers patients to better manage their disease in all areas.”
The study comes just a few weeks after a Chiesi-sponsored patient survey found that one in three COPD patients believe they would get better care with a different disease such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease.
COPD is an umbrella term used to describe progressive lung diseases including emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and refractory (non-reversible) asthma.
