Nocturnal Cough and Sleep Quality to Assess Asthma Control and Predict Attacks

Peter Tinschert,1,* Frank Rassouli,2,* Filipe Barata,3 Claudia Steurer-Stey,4,5 Elgar Fleisch,1,3 Milo Alan Puhan,4 Tobias Kowatsch,1,3 Martin Hugo Brutsche2 1Center for Digital Health Interventions, Institute of Technology Management, University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland; 2Lung Center,...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tinschert P, Rassouli F, Barata F, Steurer-Stey C, Fleisch E, Puhan MA, Kowatsch T, Brutsche MH
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Dove Medical Press 2020-12-01
Series:Journal of Asthma and Allergy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.dovepress.com/nocturnal-cough-and-sleep-quality-to-assess-asthma-control-and-predict-peer-reviewed-article-JAA
_version_ 1818622342486556672
author Tinschert P
Rassouli F
Barata F
Steurer-Stey C
Fleisch E
Puhan MA
Kowatsch T
Brutsche MH
author_facet Tinschert P
Rassouli F
Barata F
Steurer-Stey C
Fleisch E
Puhan MA
Kowatsch T
Brutsche MH
author_sort Tinschert P
collection DOAJ
description Peter Tinschert,1,* Frank Rassouli,2,* Filipe Barata,3 Claudia Steurer-Stey,4,5 Elgar Fleisch,1,3 Milo Alan Puhan,4 Tobias Kowatsch,1,3 Martin Hugo Brutsche2 1Center for Digital Health Interventions, Institute of Technology Management, University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland; 2Lung Center, Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland; 3Center for Digital Health Interventions, Department of Management, Technology, and Economics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 4Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 5mediX Group Practice Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Peter TinschertCenter for Digital Health Interventions, Institute of Technology Management, University of St. Gallen, Dufourstrasse 40a, CH-9000, St. Gallen, SwitzerlandTel +41 76 403 34 66Email peter.tinschert@unisg.chIntroduction: Objective markers for asthma, that can be measured without extra patient effort, could mitigate current shortcomings in asthma monitoring. We investigated whether smartphone-recorded nocturnal cough and sleep quality can be utilized for the detection of periods with uncontrolled asthma or meaningful changes in asthma control and for the prediction of asthma attacks.Methods: We analyzed questionnaire and sensor data of 79 adults with asthma. Data were collected in situ for 29 days by means of a smartphone. Sleep quality and nocturnal cough frequencies were measured every night with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and by manually annotating coughs from smartphone audio recordings. Primary endpoint was asthma control assessed with a weekly version of the Asthma Control Test. Secondary endpoint was self-reported asthma attacks.Results: Mixed-effects regression analyses showed that nocturnal cough and sleep quality were statistically significantly associated with asthma control on a between- and within-patient level (p < 0.05). Decision trees indicated that sleep quality was more useful for detecting weeks with uncontrolled asthma (balanced accuracy (BAC) 68% vs 61%; Δ sensitivity − 12%; Δ specificity − 2%), while nocturnal cough better detected weeks with asthma control deteriorations (BAC 71% vs 56%; Δ sensitivity 3%; Δ specificity − 34%). Cut-offs using both markers predicted asthma attacks up to five days ahead with BACs between 70% and 75% (sensitivities 75 - 88% and specificities 57 - 72%).Conclusion: Nocturnal cough and sleep quality have useful properties as markers for asthma control and seem to have prognostic value for the early detection of asthma attacks. Due to the limited study duration per patient and the pragmatic nature of the study, future research is needed to comprehensively evaluate and externally validate the performance of both biomarkers and their utility for asthma self-management.Keywords: asthma, digital biomarker, nocturnal cough, sleep quality, asthma control assessment, asthma attack prediction
first_indexed 2024-12-16T18:23:39Z
format Article
id doaj.art-90c1660222e145a4b07c8921f70bc91f
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1178-6965
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-16T18:23:39Z
publishDate 2020-12-01
publisher Dove Medical Press
record_format Article
series Journal of Asthma and Allergy
spelling doaj.art-90c1660222e145a4b07c8921f70bc91f2022-12-21T22:21:29ZengDove Medical PressJournal of Asthma and Allergy1178-69652020-12-01Volume 1366967860262Nocturnal Cough and Sleep Quality to Assess Asthma Control and Predict AttacksTinschert PRassouli FBarata FSteurer-Stey CFleisch EPuhan MAKowatsch TBrutsche MHPeter Tinschert,1,* Frank Rassouli,2,* Filipe Barata,3 Claudia Steurer-Stey,4,5 Elgar Fleisch,1,3 Milo Alan Puhan,4 Tobias Kowatsch,1,3 Martin Hugo Brutsche2 1Center for Digital Health Interventions, Institute of Technology Management, University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland; 2Lung Center, Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland; 3Center for Digital Health Interventions, Department of Management, Technology, and Economics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 4Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 5mediX Group Practice Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Peter TinschertCenter for Digital Health Interventions, Institute of Technology Management, University of St. Gallen, Dufourstrasse 40a, CH-9000, St. Gallen, SwitzerlandTel +41 76 403 34 66Email peter.tinschert@unisg.chIntroduction: Objective markers for asthma, that can be measured without extra patient effort, could mitigate current shortcomings in asthma monitoring. We investigated whether smartphone-recorded nocturnal cough and sleep quality can be utilized for the detection of periods with uncontrolled asthma or meaningful changes in asthma control and for the prediction of asthma attacks.Methods: We analyzed questionnaire and sensor data of 79 adults with asthma. Data were collected in situ for 29 days by means of a smartphone. Sleep quality and nocturnal cough frequencies were measured every night with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and by manually annotating coughs from smartphone audio recordings. Primary endpoint was asthma control assessed with a weekly version of the Asthma Control Test. Secondary endpoint was self-reported asthma attacks.Results: Mixed-effects regression analyses showed that nocturnal cough and sleep quality were statistically significantly associated with asthma control on a between- and within-patient level (p < 0.05). Decision trees indicated that sleep quality was more useful for detecting weeks with uncontrolled asthma (balanced accuracy (BAC) 68% vs 61%; Δ sensitivity − 12%; Δ specificity − 2%), while nocturnal cough better detected weeks with asthma control deteriorations (BAC 71% vs 56%; Δ sensitivity 3%; Δ specificity − 34%). Cut-offs using both markers predicted asthma attacks up to five days ahead with BACs between 70% and 75% (sensitivities 75 - 88% and specificities 57 - 72%).Conclusion: Nocturnal cough and sleep quality have useful properties as markers for asthma control and seem to have prognostic value for the early detection of asthma attacks. Due to the limited study duration per patient and the pragmatic nature of the study, future research is needed to comprehensively evaluate and externally validate the performance of both biomarkers and their utility for asthma self-management.Keywords: asthma, digital biomarker, nocturnal cough, sleep quality, asthma control assessment, asthma attack predictionhttps://www.dovepress.com/nocturnal-cough-and-sleep-quality-to-assess-asthma-control-and-predict-peer-reviewed-article-JAAasthmadigital biomarkernocturnal coughsleep qualityasthma control assessmentasthma attack prediction
spellingShingle Tinschert P
Rassouli F
Barata F
Steurer-Stey C
Fleisch E
Puhan MA
Kowatsch T
Brutsche MH
Nocturnal Cough and Sleep Quality to Assess Asthma Control and Predict Attacks
Journal of Asthma and Allergy
asthma
digital biomarker
nocturnal cough
sleep quality
asthma control assessment
asthma attack prediction
title Nocturnal Cough and Sleep Quality to Assess Asthma Control and Predict Attacks
title_full Nocturnal Cough and Sleep Quality to Assess Asthma Control and Predict Attacks
title_fullStr Nocturnal Cough and Sleep Quality to Assess Asthma Control and Predict Attacks
title_full_unstemmed Nocturnal Cough and Sleep Quality to Assess Asthma Control and Predict Attacks
title_short Nocturnal Cough and Sleep Quality to Assess Asthma Control and Predict Attacks
title_sort nocturnal cough and sleep quality to assess asthma control and predict attacks
topic asthma
digital biomarker
nocturnal cough
sleep quality
asthma control assessment
asthma attack prediction
url https://www.dovepress.com/nocturnal-cough-and-sleep-quality-to-assess-asthma-control-and-predict-peer-reviewed-article-JAA
work_keys_str_mv AT tinschertp nocturnalcoughandsleepqualitytoassessasthmacontrolandpredictattacks
AT rassoulif nocturnalcoughandsleepqualitytoassessasthmacontrolandpredictattacks
AT barataf nocturnalcoughandsleepqualitytoassessasthmacontrolandpredictattacks
AT steurersteyc nocturnalcoughandsleepqualitytoassessasthmacontrolandpredictattacks
AT fleische nocturnalcoughandsleepqualitytoassessasthmacontrolandpredictattacks
AT puhanma nocturnalcoughandsleepqualitytoassessasthmacontrolandpredictattacks
AT kowatscht nocturnalcoughandsleepqualitytoassessasthmacontrolandpredictattacks
AT brutschemh nocturnalcoughandsleepqualitytoassessasthmacontrolandpredictattacks