How to measure asthma and reassure the patient with Wing

June 28, 2019

The explosion of smart health connected objects in recent years affects almost all areas. Some may be true companions, especially those dedicated to connected health and even become indispensable in the case of certain conditions. This could be the case of the smart health device Wing, designed by the start-up Sparo Labs, based in St Louis in the United States. Wing is a small device that will assess the health status of people with asthma. It will help them to detect if they are likely to suffer from an asthma attack.

Asthma is unfortunately a condition that is becoming more prevalent, especially among children. It can have various causes like allergies for example, but also environmental causes such as pollution. Be that as it may, there are treatments that can control this disease and prevent seizures. Today we present a small device, which, paired with a smartphone, will allow asthmatics and parents of children with asthma to measure the state of the lungs of the patient at a time T. The patient will know then that he is time to use his medicine or if everything is fine.

What if following your asthma was as simple as following your blood sugar?

Take your blood sugar regularly, write down the different values, discuss with your doctor about the variations of it is part of the basis of the management of diabetes by a person affected by this disease.

For asthma, the glucometer counterpart (caricatured) is the peak flow meter. This device is used to measure Peak Flow (Peak Expiratory Flow) and therefore to assess the state of the breath, the respiratory function and the evolution of the disease.

Practiced regularly and in good conditions, expiratory flow measurements allow people with asthma to get to know each other better and to anticipate the onset of a seizure. In addition, sharing the data with his doctor allows him to adjust the treatment if necessary.

Better control your asthma with smart health device Wing

Wing is not a bulky item, it will be easy to carry in your pocket for use at any time. It does not require a battery, to make it work it is enough to connect it to its smartphone by the jack, normally used to connect its headphones. So, at any time, people with asthma will just have to connect Wing to their smartphone and blow in for a few seconds. The results are immediate and easy to interpret, a color code (green, yellow and red) indicates the state of the lungs at this time.

With each use, the results are recorded in the application with different metadata, such as the place for example, and sent to the user’s space on the cloud. Thus, as and when, the user will be able to determine the factors that trigger the eventual crises, depending on the situations in which he used Wing. In addition, multiple users can use the same device in separate accounts. In the same vein as the Respia system, in search of funding, Wing is a promising object that will help asthmatics regain control of their disease.

An additional tool for treating physicians

Reports may be shared with the attending physician. With the various data, it will be able to determine if the treatment is well adapted for example or if modifications are necessary for particular situations.

Side specificities, Wing weighs only 70 grams and can be used by children from 5 years. The device works with a dedicated app and is compatible with Apple iPhone (5 or higher).