System and method for identifying asthma trigger conditions based on drug device monitoring in patients

Abstract

A method for determining a risk of triggering a respiratory disorder compared to a general patient population is disclosed. Data is collected about activations of a medication device for delivering a respiratory medication to a patient population. The activation data and patient context parameter data associated with each activation event are stored. A data analysis module determines the occurrence of rescue events based on the collected activation data and determines a coefficient of the context parameter as a trigger event for a primary patient based on a correlation between the context parameter and the rescue event. The data analysis module provides a comparison of a coefficient of at least one context parameter for the primary patient to a coefficient distribution of trigger events for the patient population based on the correlation between the context parameter and the rescue event for the patient population.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Claim of priority This application claims the benefit and priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 928,937, filed on October 31, 2019. The entire disclosure of this document is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] Technical field The present disclosure is primarily concerned with methods for improving the treatment of patients at risk of respiratory diseases, and more specifically, with determining the causes of rescue events related to a patient's asthma relative to the morbidity of a general patient population.

Background Art

[0003] Asthma remains a significant and costly public health problem. In the United States, more than 22 million people have this disease. According to World Health Organization estimates, the global asthma population could be 300 million and is predicted to rise to 400 million by 2025.

[0004] Although new drugs have been developed, the number of hospitalizations and emergency room visits has not decreased. In the United States each year, there are approximately 2 million emergency department visits, 500,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths attributed to this disease. In addition, the number of school days missed and work days missed due to asthma is estimated to be 15 million and 12 million days, respectively. The total annual cost to U.S. health insurance companies and employees exceeds $18 billion.

[0005] While most of these exacerbations are avoidable with currently available treatments, only one in five asthma patients is able to manage the disease. Such treatment often depends on identifying the respiratory triggers (e.g., asthma) and administering appropriate treatment (e.g., medication). One mechanism for patient self-administration of medication is the inhaler. When a trigger event occurs, the patient can administer medication via a puff from the inhaler.

[0006] Newly revised national guidelines require physicians to monitor in more detail whether daily symptoms are controlled by treatment and whether quality of life is improving. To monitor patients and their condition, an increasing number of physicians are beginning to use written questionnaires (e.g., asthma controlled trials) on a regular basis. With these methods, patients need to accurately recall and report their symptoms, symptom frequency, inhaler use and activity levels, and restrictions over a set period (usually 2-4 weeks). As such, errors can occur with these questionnaires due to bias (recall), differences in symptom interpretation, and behavior (non-adherence), and information can only be provided when the questionnaire is used.

[0007] In one recent approach, trigger events are determined through statistical analysis based on individual patient outcomes. Such trigger events are typically associated with puffs from drug inhalers. Analysis of such events and the timing of when puffs may occur has been attempted. However, predicting puffs is a highly noisy and error-prone problem. Several factors make such analyses difficult: Firstly, a high error rate occurs even under ideal conditions. There are numerous candidate “trigger” variables, which are often correlated. If variables are sorted into buckets based on whether they are above or below a certain threshold (e.g., “temperature above 80”, “temperature above 90”), even more variables may arise and become correlated. In particular, when multiple hypothesis tests are performed on correlated therapeutic variables, the likelihood of “significant” relationships to variables being false positives increases significantly, even if the correlation is due to random chance.

[0008] High error rates can occur even when the frequency of event occurrence is low (e.g., less than 30%). An event could be either a puff occurring on a given day or the puff count exceeding a certain threshold. Simulations suggest that when the rate of events actually experienced by patients is low, both the false positive and false negative rates of the sequential probability ratio test can be high. Adjusting for and correlating these factors is difficult in real-world settings.

[0009] Secondly, current statistical analysis methods rely primarily on data from primary patients, making it impractically time-consuming to identify trigger conditions. "Discovering" whether or not a patient is highly sensitive to environmental triggers can take an extremely long time unless the relationship between the variable and the outcome is very strong. For example, in a simulation where a patient experiences a higher-than-50% increase above a baseline when the temperature exceeds 80 degrees, this relationship may not be identified in the trial even after 18 months of data. This is further exacerbated by the fact that even longer periods are needed to confirm the identification of trigger conditions in order to adequately control for the low frequency of a particular event.

[0010] Thirdly, it is difficult to communicate potentially useful trigger information for patients' adaptation to current and future regulations. It is also difficult to explain issues such as statistical significance and certainty expressions in statistical predictions to patients. Errors in this approach can also impact regulatory compliance.

[0011] Understanding statistical significance is difficult. Determining such significance for multiple correlated variables is even more difficult. Determining statistical significance sequentially is even more difficult. Adjusting for these problems while communicating practical insights about trigger conditions to patients via applications within a reasonable timeframe is virtually impossible at present.

[0012] A system is needed that can determine trigger events from the primary patient's environmental data by comparing them with the distribution of trigger event probabilities from a large patient population. There is also a need to provide trigger event analysis in a relatively short timeframe. Furthermore, it is required to provide statistically based trigger analysis in a format that is easy for patients to understand. [Overview of the project]

[0013] The disclosed respiratory disease monitoring system provides a method and system for predicting trigger conditions with greater accuracy and communicating such conditions to the patient. The system collects sensor data from therapeutic devices (e.g., inhalers), patient demographic and physiological data, and environmental data relevant to the patient population with respiratory disease. The data is collected and categorized so that each row contains the patient's daily medical expenses, and each column contains environmental exposure and inhaler usage. The analysis involves collecting statistics for probability theory proponents against relative sensitivity compared to each other drug inhaler patient in the patient population. The resulting analysis is social, dynamic, and integrative because it is based on comparisons with other patients. Therefore, the resulting analysis is easy for patients to understand.

[0014] One example of disclosure is a system that determines the conditions that trigger respiratory illness. A communication interface collects data on the activation of respiratory drug devices to deliver respiratory drugs to patients in a patient population. A storage device stores the activation data and patient context parameter data associated with each activation event for the patient population. A data analysis module is operable to access the activation data and context parameter data for primary patients in the patient population over a period of time. Based on the collected activation data, the data analysis module determines the occurrence of rescue events and determines the coefficient of at least one context parameter as the trigger event for the primary patient based on the correlation between the context parameter and the rescue event. The data analysis module provides a comparison of the coefficient of at least one context parameter for the primary patient with the coefficient distribution of trigger events for the patient population, based on the correlation between the context parameter and the rescue event for the patient population.

[0015] In another implementation of the disclosed system, the coefficient determination is based in part on contextual parameter data and the occurrence of rescue events based on collected activation data of at least one secondary patient similar to the primary patient in the patient population of the primary patient's contextual parameters. In another implementation, the coefficient is determined based on a regression analysis of contextual parameters related to collected activation data, optimized by at least one hyperparameter. In another implementation, the regression analysis is performed on the collected activation data and contextual data after a first predetermined period. In another implementation, the patient population coefficient is selected based on a regression analysis performed on each patient in the patient population after a first predetermined period. In another implementation, at least one hyperparameter is adjusted over a second predetermined period based on collected contextual parameter data for the patient population. In another implementation, the respiratory disease is asthma. In another implementation, at least one contextual parameter includes one of air pollutant conditions or meteorological conditions. In an alternative implementation, the pollutant condition is one of the following: air quality index, ozone molecules (O3), nitrogen dioxide molecules (NO2), sulfur dioxide molecules (SO2), particulate matter ≤ 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), or particulate matter ≤ 10 micrometers (PM10). In an alternative implementation, the meteorological condition is one of the following: temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, local atmospheric pressure, and visibility. In an alternative implementation, the data analysis module determines multiple trigger conditions, including the determined trigger condition. The data analysis module assigns a coefficient to each of the multiple trigger conditions. The data analysis module compares the coefficients to the coefficient distribution for each of the multiple trigger conditions from the patient population. In an alternative implementation, the system includes an output application. This output application displays the selected trigger condition from the multiple trigger conditions based on whether the primary patient's coefficient falls within a certain percentile of the coefficient distribution of the patient population. In an alternative implementation, the output application assigns a descriptive label correlated with the overall risk element of the primary patient. In an alternative implementation, the system includes a display for showing the descriptive label to the primary patient.In another implementation, the system includes a mobile device connected to a data analysis module. In another implementation, the data analysis module alerts primary patients if the coefficient falls within the high percentile distribution of the coefficients in the patient population.

[0016] Another example of disclosure is a method for evaluating trigger events for respiratory illness in primary patients. Usage data from the activation of the therapeutic device is collected from the patient population via a communication interface. Contextual parameter data corresponding to the patient population is collected via the communication interface. The collected usage data and contextual parameter data are stored in a storage device. The trigger event coefficient is determined for each patient in the patient population from the contextual parameters and usage data. The trigger event coefficient for primary patients is determined based on data related to the primary patient's contextual data and usage data. A comparison of primary patient coefficients is provided in relation to the coefficient distribution of the patient population.

[0017] In an alternative implementation of the disclosed method, activation data is collected for at least one secondary patient similar to the primary patient in the patient population based on the primary patient's contextual parameters. The coefficient is determined in part on the occurrence of rescue events based on the contextual parameter data and at least one secondary patient. In an alternative implementation, the coefficient is determined based on a regression analysis of the contextual parameters related to the collected activation data, optimized by at least one hyperparameter. In an alternative implementation, the regression analysis is performed on the collected activation data and contextual data after a first predetermined period. In an alternative implementation, the patient population coefficient is selected based on a regression analysis performed on each patient in the patient population after a first predetermined period. In an alternative implementation, at least one hyperparameter is adjusted over a second predetermined period based on the collected contextual parameter data for the patient population. In an alternative implementation, the respiratory disease is asthma. In an alternative implementation, at least one contextual parameter includes one of air pollutant conditions or meteorological conditions. In another implementation, the pollutant condition is one of the following: air quality index, ozone molecules (O3), nitrogen dioxide molecules (NO2), sulfur dioxide molecules (SO2), particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or smaller (PM2.5), or particulate matter 10 micrometers or smaller (PM10). In another implementation, the meteorological condition is one of the following: temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, local atmospheric pressure, and visibility. In another implementation, the method includes determining a set of trigger conditions, including the determined trigger condition. The method includes assigning a coefficient to each of the trigger conditions. The method includes comparing the coefficient with the coefficient distribution for each of the trigger conditions from the patient population. In another implementation, the method includes displaying the selected trigger condition from the set of trigger conditions based on whether the primary patient's coefficient falls within a certain percentile of the coefficient distribution of the patient population. In another implementation, the method includes assigning a descriptive label correlated with the overall risk element of the primary patient. In another implementation, the method includes displaying the descriptive label to the primary patient.In another implementation, the descriptive labels and selected trigger conditions are displayed on the mobile device's screen. In another implementation, the method includes alerting a primary patient if the coefficient falls within the high percentile distribution of the coefficients in the patient population.

[0018] The above summary is not intended to illustrate each embodiment or aspect of the present disclosure. Rather, it merely provides examples of some of the novel aspects and features described herein. The above features and advantages, as well as other features and advantages of the present disclosure, will become readily apparent upon reading the following detailed description of representative embodiments and aspects for the execution of the invention, together with the accompanying drawings and claims.

[0019] A better understanding of this disclosure will be gained by referring to the following description of exemplary embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0020] [Figure 1] This document describes a respiratory disease analysis system for monitoring high-precision, real-time drug device usage, analyzing the data, and providing rescue event risk notifications. [Figure 2] This is a high-level block diagram showing an example of computing devices used internally as client devices, application servers, and / or database servers. [Figure 3A] This shows the dashboard of the client application that enables interaction between the user and the asthma analysis system. [Figure 3B] This shows an example card displayed within the client application's dashboard. [Figure 4] This is a flowchart for detecting rescue medication events in primary patients using an asthma analysis system. [Figure 5] This is a block diagram of a module within a data analysis module that generates primary patient coefficients by comparing them with the coefficient distribution from the patient population. [Figure 6A] It is a block diagram of the discretization process of the discretization module in FIG. 5. [Figure 6B] It is a block diagram of the patient similarity module in FIG. 5. [Figure 6C] It is a block diagram of the regression module in FIG. 5. [Figure 6D] It is a block diagram of the relative ranking module in FIG. 5. [Figure 7] It is a screen image of the interface of a patient application showing the presentation of primary patient data selected based on comparison with the data distribution from the general patient population. [Figure 8] It is a flowchart for identifying a trigger for an individual patient and generating a label for the trigger in comparison with the general patient population according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0021] The present disclosure has various modifications and alternative forms. Some representative embodiments illustrated in the drawings will be described in detail below in this specification. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, and rather, the present disclosure encompasses all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives within the spirit and scope of the present invention defined by the appended claims.

[0022] The present invention can be embodied in numerous different forms. Representative embodiments are shown in the drawings and are described in detail below in this specification. This disclosure is an example or illustration of the principles of this disclosure and is not intended to limit the broader aspects of this disclosure to the examples given. Therefore, elements or limitations disclosed in, for example, the sections “Abstract,” “Summary of the Invention,” and “Modes for Carrying Out the Invention,” but not expressed in the claims, should not be incorporated into the claims, individually or collectively, by suggestion, inference, or otherwise. In this specification, unless otherwise specified, singular nouns include plural nouns, and vice versa. The phrase “including” means “including but not limited to.” Furthermore, in this specification, approximation words such as “approximately,” “about,” “substantially,” and “around” may be used to mean, for example, “just,” “near,” “around,” “within 3-5%,” “within acceptable manufacturing tolerances,” or any logical combination thereof.

[0023] This disclosure relates to a system that collects large population data for comparison with primary patients and provides trigger notifications for respiratory disorders such as asthma. The system collects sensor data from therapeutic devices (e.g., inhalers) to determine adherence to respiratory events and potential triggers based on inhaler usage data. The collected data is combined with patient demographic and physiological data, as well as relevant environmental data. The analysis collects probabilistic statistics for the relative sensitivity of environmental parameters (as trigger events compared to all other drug inhaler patients in the patient population). The resulting analysis is social, dynamic, and integrative because it compares trigger conditions with conditions affecting other patients in the general patient population. Therefore, the analysis obtained in relation to one or more trigger conditions is easily understandable to the patient.

[0024] This system recognizes that there is no absolute knowledge of the details of what triggers asthma in current patients, and that it is impossible to determine the certainty of any potential trigger condition (especially given the extremely limited daily data). The system in this disclosure employs this initial uncertainty and the expectation that the relationship between conditions / trigger events will change as data collection progresses. The method of this disclosure makes it possible to continuously provide certain insights in the early stages of analysis without requiring any precise knowledge.

[0025] At fixed milestones on the platform (e.g., every 30 days), regression analysis is performed on the entire daily history for each patient in the patient population. Coefficients for each contextual parameter (e.g., temperature, humidity, particle count, and air pollution) are determined. Each coefficient is ranked as a percentile for all other patients in the patient population up to the aforementioned milestone. If the coefficient rank is sufficiently high, the patient may be notified that their sensitivity to the environmental parameter is above average compared to other patients in the population. If conditions change in the future, the user may be notified, and the predictive output of the trigger conditions may be adjusted.

[0026] The respiratory disease analysis system 100 shown in Figure 1, in one embodiment, monitors high-precision, real-time drug device events, performs data analysis, and provides respiratory disease risk notifications based on trigger identification related to the general patient population for the primary patient. Such respiratory diseases may be asthma rescue events that can be managed through rapid drug treatment via inhalers.

[0027] The respiratory disease analysis system includes a client computing device 110, a drug device sensor 120, a drug device 160, an application server 130, a database server 140, and a network 150. In Figure 1, most of the components of the respiratory disease analysis system 100 are shown as single instances, but in reality, each component may exist in more than one number, and a larger or smaller number of components may be used.

[0028] The client device 110 interacts with the respiratory disease analysis system 100 via the network 150 when requested by the user. For explanation and clarity, it is useful to identify at least two different types of users. Patient 111 is a user with asthma who, in this example, uses the respiratory disease analysis system 100 at least partially to obtain personalized asthma rescue event risk notifications provided by the server 130 and asthma management notifications generated by the healthcare provider 112. Such notifications may be provided in exchange for the user's permission, thereby enabling the respiratory disease analysis system 100 to monitor the patient's 111's use of the medication device 160. As described below, medication events are detected by the medication device 160 and sensors 120 associated with the user's client device 100, which then report to the application server 130, which may then initiate the process of generating risk notifications. Risk notifications are provided to the user through the client device 110. In this example, patient 111 represents the patient population. Individual data is collected for each patient in the patient population. Overall statistics for the patient population are used for trigger event analysis as described herein.

[0029] Another type of user is healthcare provider 112. Healthcare provider 112, similarly based on permission from patient 111, receives notifications about the patient's asthma management, collective asthma community rescue event data, and derived statistics about asthma events and other related data. Other types of users are also intended (e.g., a parent / guardian of patient 111 who wishes to receive notifications if their client device 110 is separate from their child's).

[0030] The client device 110 is a computer system. An exemplary physical implementation will be described in more detail below with reference to Figure 2. The client device 110 is configured to communicate wirelessly with the respiratory disease analysis system 100 via the network 150. By accessing the network 150, the client device 110 transmits to the system 100 the user's geographical location, the time of the rescue drug event, and information describing the event received from the associated drug device sensor 120 (collectively referred to as "sensor 120").

[0031] Regarding user location and event time, the client device 110 may determine its geographical location and rescue event time by utilizing information about the cellular or wireless network 150 to which it is connected. For example, the current geographical location of the client device 110 may be determined by a direct query to the software stack that provides the connection to the network 150. Alternatively, geographical location information may be obtained by pinging an external web service (not shown in Figure 1) that is accessible via the network 150. The event time may be provided by the sensor 120 as part of the event data, or it may be added to the event data by querying an appropriate software routine available as part of the client device's native operating system.

[0032] In addition to communicating with the application server 130, client devices 110 wirelessly connected to the respiratory disease analysis system 100 can also exchange information with other connected client devices 110. For example, through the client software application 115, a healthcare provider 112 may receive a disease exacerbation risk notification describing a recent rescue event for patient 111, and subsequently send recommendations to patient 111 for the treatment of the post-asthma rescue event. Similarly, through the application 115, patient 111 may communicate with their healthcare provider 112 and other patients 111.

[0033] Application 115 provides a user interface (hereinafter referred to as the “dashboard”). This dashboard is displayed on the screen of the client device 110 and allows the user to input commands for controlling the operation of Application 115. The dashboard is a mechanism that enables healthcare provider 112 and patient 111 to access the respiratory disease analysis system 100. For example, the dashboard enables patient 111 and provider 112 to interact with each other, receive asthma rescue event risk notifications, exchange messages about treatment, and provide and receive further event and non-event data. Application 115 may be coded as a single web page, a series of web pages, or content coded in other ways to be rendered within an internet browser. Application 115 may also be coded as a proprietary application configured to run on the native operating system of the client device 110. The dashboard will be described in more detail below with reference to Figures 3A and 3B.

[0034] In addition to providing a dashboard, application 115 may also locally perform some data processing on asthma rescue event data using the resources of client device 110, and then transmit the processed data over network 150. The event data transmitted over network 110 is received by application server 130. In application server 130, this data is analyzed and processed (so that it can be stored and retrieved in relation to database server 140). Application server 130 may, in response to a request from client application 115, direct retrieval and save requests to database system 130. As described below, this analysis may be extended to include event data from multiple patients 111.

[0035] The client device 110 communicates with the sensor 120 using a network adapter and either a wired or wireless communication protocol. An example of such a protocol is the BTLE (Bluetooth® Low Energy) protocol. BTLE is a short-range, low-power protocol standard that transmits data wirelessly via a wireless link within a short-range wireless network. After the sensor 120 and client device 110 are paired using a BTLE passkey, the sensor 120 automatically synchronizes information related to drug device usage and communicates it to the rigid client device 110. If the sensor 120 and client device 110 are not paired before a rescue drug event, the information is stored locally until pairing is completed. After pairing, the sensor 120 communicates all stored event records to the client device 110. Other implementations may use other types of wireless connections (e.g., infrared or IEEE 802.11).

[0036] Although the client device 110 and the drug device 160 are described above as separate physical devices (e.g., a smartphone and an inhaler, respectively), in the future, the drug device 160 may include not only the sensor 120 integrated with the device 160 in a single housing, but also embodiments of the client device 110. For example, the drug device 160 may include an audiovisual interface including a display or other lighting element and a speaker for presenting audiovisual information. In such an implementation, the drug device 160 itself may directly present notification content provided by the server 130 (instead of or in addition to presentation via the client device 110).

[0037] The drug device 160 is a medical device used for drug delivery to the lungs of a user experiencing respiratory airflow restriction. The drug device (e.g., an inhaler) is typically portable and small enough to be carried by hand, making it easily accessible during respiratory attacks. In one embodiment, the drug is delivered aerosolically through the drug device 160 (e.g., a metered-dose inhaler). The metered-dose inhaler includes a canister for pressurized propellant of the aerosol drug, a metering valve for controlled drug dose delivery, and a plastic holder. This plastic holder holds the pressurized canister and also forms a mouthpiece for drug delivery. In another embodiment, the drug is delivered through the drug device 160 (a dry powder inhaler) in dry powder form. A gear mechanism housed in a Cartesian elliptical body that may be provided in the dry powder inhaler allows the user to index the dry powder drug through elongated pieces. The body of the dry powder inhaler also includes a manifold and mouthpiece for delivering the dry powder to the user. Examples of control drugs dispensed from control drug device 160 include beclomethasone, budesonide, and fluticasone, as well as combinations of these drugs with long-acting bronchodilators (e.g., salmeterol or formoterol). Examples of rescue drugs dispensed from rescue drug device 160 include albuterol, salbutamol, levalbuterol, metaproterenol, and terbutaline.

[0038] Each patient may be associated with more than one drug device 160. For example, a patient may have a rescue drug device 160 for distributing rescue drugs and a control drug device 160 for distributing control drugs. Similarly, each patient may be associated with more than one sensor 120, each selected to work with one of the patient's drug devices 160.

[0039] Generally, the sensor 120 is a physical device that monitors the usage of the drug dispenser 160. The sensor 120 may be removablely attached to the drug dispenser (without interfering with the operation of the drug dispenser), or it may be made available by the manufacturer as an integrated component, as a native part of the drug dispenser 160.

[0040] The sensor 120 includes its own network adapter (not shown). This network adapter communicates with the client device 110 via a wired connection or, more typically, via a wireless radio frequency connection. In one embodiment, the network adapter is a BTLE (Bluetooth® Low Energy) wireless transmitter, but in other embodiments, other types of wireless communication may be used (e.g., infrared, IEEE 802.11).

[0041] The sensor 120 may be configured to communicate more directly with the application server 130. For example, if the network adapter of the sensor 120 is configured to communicate via a wireless standard (e.g., IEEE 802.11 or LTE), the adapter may exchange data with a wireless access point (e.g., a wireless router), which may then communicate with the application server 130 (without necessarily requiring the client device 110 every time data is exchanged). These two communication methods are not mutually exclusive, and the sensor 120 may be configured to communicate with both the client device 110 and the application server 130 using redundant transmissions to ensure, for example, that event data reaches the application server 130 or to provide information directly to the client device 110 (while the application server 130 is determining the details of the notification to be provided in response to the event).

[0042] As described above, the sensor 120 captures data on the usage of the drug device 160. Specifically, each sensor 120 captures the time and geographical location of rescue drug events (i.e., the usage of the rescue drug device 160 by the patient 111). Each sensor 120 automatically transmits event data (in real time or as soon as network connectivity is established) without input from the patient 111 or healthcare provider 112. The drug event information is transmitted to the application server 130 for analysis, generation of asthma rescue event notifications, and aggregate analysis of event data across multiple patients.

[0043] To achieve this objective, there are several different ways to construct the sensor 120, and the structure of the sensor 120 partially depends on the structure of the drug device 160 itself. Generally, the entire sensor 120 includes an onboard processor, persistent memory, and the network adapter described above. These work together to record, store, and report drug event information to the client device 110 and / or server 130. The sensor 120 may also include a clock to record the time and date of events.

[0044] Regarding the structure of a particular sensor 120, conventional inhalers (e.g., mechanical dose counters) are not designed with the sensor 120 in mind, so the sensor 120 can be constructed accordingly. Some implementations of this type include mechanical, electrical, or optical sensors that detect the movement of the device 160, device priming, device activation, and user inhalation. In contrast, current inhalers (e.g., deformable membrane dose counters) include electrical circuits that can report event information as electrical data signals. The sensor 120 is designed to receive and interpret these electrical data signals, and for example, the drug device 160 itself can report movement, priming, and activation to the sensor 120.

[0045] More detailed information regarding the hardware and software components of the sensor 120 and the drug device 160, and the interaction between the components for recording rescue drug events, is described in U.S. Patent Application No. 12 / 348,424 (filed January 1, 2009) and International Patent Application No. PCT / US2014 / 039014 (filed May 21, 2014). Both of these documents are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0046] The application server 130 is either a computer or a network of computers. While a schematic example is shown in Figure 2, typically the application server is a server-class system, employing high-performance processors, large memory, and faster network components (e.g., as client devices 110) compared to a typical computing system used. The server typically has large secondary storage, which may use, for example, a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) array and / or establish an independent content delivery network (CDN) responsible for storing, exchanging, and transmitting data (e.g., the asthma notification intended above). Furthermore, the computing system includes an operating system (e.g., UNIX® operating system, LINUX® operating system, or WINDOWS® operating system). The operating system manages the hardware and software resources of the application server 130 and also provides various services (e.g., process management, data input / output, peripheral device management). The operating system provides various functions for managing files stored on the device (e.g., creating new files, moving or copying files, transferring files to remote systems).

[0047] The application server 130 can generally be characterized as a cloud-based system at a high level, as it includes a software architecture that supports access to and use of the asthma analysis system 100 (by numerous different client devices 110 via the network 150). The application server 130 generally provides a platform for patients 111 and healthcare providers 112. Through this platform, patients 111 and healthcare providers 112 report data recorded by sensors associated with the drug device 160 (including both rescue drug events and control drug events), collaborate on asthma treatment plans, view and obtain information about their conditions and geographical location, and utilize a variety of other functions.

[0048] Generally, the application server 130 is designed to handle diverse data. The application server 130 includes logical routines that perform a variety of functions (for example, checking the validity of incoming data, parsing and formatting data if necessary, sending the processed data to the database server 140 for storage, and confirming that the database server 140 has been updated).

[0049] The application server 130 stores and manages data for each patient, at least partially. For this purpose, the application server 130 generates a patient profile for each user. The patient profile is a set of data that characterizes the patient 111 of the respiratory disease analysis system 100. The patient profile may include identifying information about the patient (e.g., age, sex, current rescue medication, current control medication, notification preferences, control medication adherence plan, relevant medical history, and a list of non-patient users authorized to access the patient profile). The profile may further specify a device identifier (e.g., a unique Media Access Control (MAC) address that identifies one or more client devices 110 or sensors 120 authorized to submit data about the patient (e.g., controller events and rescue medication events)).

[0050] The profile may specify different types of notifications to be provided to patient 111 and the patient's individual healthcare provider 112, and the frequency of these notifications. For example, patient 111 may grant healthcare provider 112 the authority to receive notifications indicating rescue events. Patient 111 may also grant healthcare provider 112 the authority to access the patient's individual patient profile and rescue event history. Once healthcare provider 112 is granted access to patient 111's patient profile, the healthcare provider may specify controller adherence or rescue medication plans. The medication plan may include the prescribed daily doses for control medications.

[0051] The application server 130 also generates a profile of the healthcare provider 112. The healthcare provider profile may include identifying information about the healthcare provider 112 (e.g., office location, credentials, and certificates). The healthcare provider profile may also include information about the patient population. The provider profile may include access to all patient profiles of the provider and data derived from these profiles (e.g., aggregate demographic information, rescue and management medication event patterns). This data may be further subdivided depending on any type of data stored in the patient profile (e.g., by geographical area (e.g., neighborhood, by city) and by time period (e.g., week, month, or year)).

[0052] The application server 130 receives rescue drug event information from the client device 110 or sensor 120 and triggers various routines on the application server 130. In the exemplary implementation described below, the data analysis module 131 executes routines to access respiratory disease event data and other data (including patient profiles), analyzes this data, and outputs the analysis results to both patient 111 and provider 112. This process is generally called respiratory disease risk analysis. In this example, the risk analysis is performed for patient 111 in relation to asthma. The asthma risk analysis may be performed at any point in time in response to rescue events resulting from relevant changes in the patient's environment and in response to any one of several trigger conditions further described below.

[0053] Other analyses are also possible. For example, risk analysis of rescue and control drug use in multiple patients may involve identifying spatial / temporal clusters (or outbreaks) of drug use based on historically significant permutations from individual baselines, geographical baselines, clinical baselines, epidemiological baselines, demographic baselines, or spatial-temporal baselines or predicted or expected values. Other types of analyses include daily / weekly adherence trends, changes in adherence over time, comparisons of adherence with other relevant populations (e.g., all patients, patients with specific rescue or control drugs or combinations thereof, identification of triggers (spatial, temporal, environmental), trends in rescue use over time, and comparisons of rescue use with other relevant populations).

[0054] In response to the execution of any analysis, the application server 130 prepares and sends a push notification to the patient 111, the authorized healthcare provider 112, and / or other users who have been provided with access to the patient profile. The notification may contain details about the timing, location, and affected patient(s) 111 required in a drug rescue event. The notification may further include distress or emergency signals requesting emergency assistance to be distributed to the emergency assistance provider 112. The notification may also include the results of an asthma risk analysis performed by the data analysis module 131. Further information about the types of notifications that may be sent and the content they may contain is described below.

[0055] In addition to providing push notifications in response to asthma risk analyses, notifications may also be provided as pull notifications at specific time intervals. Furthermore, notification updates can be ensured by having some notifications triggered in response to a risk analysis performed in response to one of the evolving potential factors in the asthma risk analysis, rather than in response to an asthma risk analysis performed in response to a rescue medication event (whether push or pull). For example, if weather conditions indicate that an increase in air pollution is occurring or likely to occur, an asthma risk analysis may be triggered for all patients in the specific geographic area where the pollution is occurring.

[0056] The data format of the notification provided to the client application 115 via the network 150 is specifically designed for use with the client application and may be provided additionally or alternatively as a short message service (SMS) message, email, telephone ringtone, or other data format for communication using other communication media.

[0057] The database server 140 stores patient and provider data (e.g., profiles, drug events, patient medical history (e.g., electronic medical records)). Patient and provider data is encrypted for security purposes, at least password-protected, and otherwise secured to meet all requirements of the Health Insurance Mobility Accountability Act (HIPAA). Optional analyses (e.g., asthma risk analysis) using data from multiple patients (e.g., aggregate rescue drug event data) are provided to the user, with personally identifiable information removed through anonymization to protect patient privacy.

[0058] The database server 140 also stores non-patient data used in asthma risk analysis. This data includes regional data for multiple geographic areas (e.g., public spaces within residential or commercial zones) where patients may physically be present and potentially exposed to pollutants. This data may or may be processed to explicitly include patient proximity to green spaces (areas where trees and plants are concentrated). Examples of regional data include georeferenced weather data (e.g., temperature, wind patterns, humidity, air quality index). Another example is georeferenced pollution data (e.g., the number of particles of various pollutants measured empirically or at a given time). This regional data may include information about current weather conditions regarding the time and location of rescue events (e.g., temperature, humidity, air quality index). Since all of the above data items may change over time, the data itself may be indexed chronologically. For example, separate data points may be made available by time (e.g., minute or hour) or over longer periods (e.g., day, week, month or season). Although Figure 1 shows the database server 140 as completely separate from the application server 130, the database server 140 may also be a hardware component that is part of another server, such as server 130. In that case, the database server 140 would run as one or more persistent storage devices, and the software application layer that interfaces with the data stored in the database would be part of the other server 130.

[0059] The database server 140 stores data according to a defined database schema. Typically, data storage schemas across different data sources vary significantly (even when storing homogeneous data, e.g., cloud application event logs and log metrics) due to differences in the implementation of potential database structures. The database server 140 may also store different types of data (e.g., structured data, unstructured data, or semi-structured data). Data in the database server 140 may be associated with patients, patient groups, and / or entities. Support is obtained for database queries written in query languages ​​(e.g., SQL for relational databases, JSON for NoSQL databases) to specify commands for managing database objects indicated by the database server 140, commands for reading information from the database server 140, or commands for writing to the database server 140.

[0060] Network 150 represents various wired and wireless paths between client devices 110, sensors 120, application servers 130, and database servers 140. Network 150 uses standard Internet communication technologies and / or protocols. Therefore, network 150 may include links using technologies such as Ethernet®, IEEE 802.11, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). Similarly, networking protocols used on network 150 may include Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Data exchanged over network 150 may be represented using technologies and / or formats (e.g., Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Extended Markup Language (XML)). In addition, encryption of all or some links may be performed using conventional encryption technologies (e.g., Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Secure HTTP (HTTPS), and / or Virtual Private Network (VPN)). In another embodiment, the entity may use custom data communication technologies and / or proprietary data communication technologies as an alternative to or in addition to those described above.

[0061] Figure 2 is a high-level block diagram showing the physical components of an exemplary computer 200 according to one embodiment. This computer 200 may be used as part of the client device 110, application server 130, and / or database server 140 from Figure 1. Illustrated is a chipset 210 coupled to at least one processor 205. Coupled to the chipset 210 are volatile memory 215, a network adapter 220, one or more input / output (I / O) devices 225, a storage device 230 indicating non-volatile memory, and a display 235. In one embodiment, the functionality of the chipset 210 is provided by a memory controller 211 and an I / O controller 212. In another embodiment, the memory 215 is coupled directly to the processor 205 instead of the chipset 210. In some embodiments, the memory 215 includes high-speed random access memory (RAM) (e.g., DRAM, SRAM, DDR RAM, or other random access solid-state memory devices).

[0062] The storage device 230 is any non-temporary computer-readable storage medium (e.g., a hard drive, a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a DVD, or a solid-state memory device). Memory 215 holds instructions and data used by the processor 205. The I / O device 225 may be a touch input surface (capacitive or otherwise), a mouse, a trackball, or other type of pointing device, a keyboard, or another form of input device. The display 235 displays images and other information from the computer 200. The network adapter 220 connects the computer 200 to the network 150.

[0063] As is well known in the art, the computer 200 may have components different from and / or other components shown in Figure 2. In addition, the computer 200 may not include certain illustrated components. In one embodiment, if the computer 200 functions as a server 140, it may not include the dedicated I / O device 225 and / or the display 218. Furthermore, the storage device 230 may be local and / or remote to the computer 200 (for example, embodied within a storage area network (SAN)), and in one embodiment, the storage device 230 is not a CD-ROM device or a DVD device.

[0064] Generally, the physical components used in the client device 110 differ in size, power requirements, and performance from those of the application server 130 and the database server 140. For example, the client device 110 (which is often a home computer, tablet computer, laptop computer, or smartphone) includes input devices and a display, although it has relatively small storage capacity and processing power. These components are suitable for user input and reception of data, display, and interaction with notifications provided by the application server 130. In contrast, the application server 130 may include a number of physically separate, locally networked computers. Each of these computers has a significant amount of processing power for performing the asthma risk analysis described above. In one embodiment, the processing power of the application server 130 is provided by a service such as Amazon Web Services (Trademark). Also in contrast, the database server 140 may include a number of physically separate computers. Each of these computers has a significant amount of persistent storage capacity for storing data associated with the application server.

[0065] As is well known in the art, the computer 200 is adapted to run a computer program module that provides the functions described herein. The module may run in hardware, firmware, and / or software. In one embodiment, the program module is stored on a storage device 230, loaded into memory 215, and executed by the processor 205.

[0066] A dashboard (for example, the dashboard 300 shown in Figure 3A) enables interaction between the user and the respiratory disease analysis system 100. The dashboard 300 provides a means of information transfer between users (e.g., from patient 111 to provider 112) or between users / systems / systems / users. The dashboard 300 is accessed through a client application 115 on a client device 110 and provides a mechanism for both patients and healthcare providers to monitor drug rescue events, exchange personalized patient healthcare information, and receive notifications such as asthma rescue event risk notifications. Patients can communicate with other healthcare providers and other patients through the dashboard 300 for discussion and sharing information about, for example, asthma, drug use, or asthma management. The ability to share asthma healthcare information provides a way for patients or healthcare providers facing similar problems to share their individual perspectives.

[0067] Dashboard 300 also allows authorized healthcare providers 112 to access lists of patients from which they can view, annotate, update, interact with, and export information about asthma patient and community data and statistics across diverse demographic or geographical segments. Using Dashboard 300, healthcare providers can monitor patients individually or collectively and receive and provide feedback on how their associated patient populations are responding to asthma management guidance. Healthcare providers with access to individual or multiple patients can establish notification thresholds, parameterize notifications, and receive notifications when a patient's event history aligns with specific conditions (e.g., rescue events). Furthermore, Dashboard 300 can receive and display periodic reports related to general patient populations about event patterns for specific demographics generated by the asthma analysis system 100, as described below.

[0068] The dashboard 300 presents the user with a variety of information through display "cards" 310 (e.g., tabular data, graphical visualizations, and analyses). The display cards 310 are comfortably adapted to smaller displays (typically portable client devices 110) (e.g., mobile phones or tablets) and contain "byte-sized" information pieces that mimic the simple configuration found in baseball cards. The dashboard 300 may also include a system menu 305, which allows the user to navigate different categories of healthcare information.

[0069] Notifications provided by the application server 130 are associated with display cards 310. Generally, a notification includes not only the information to be presented to the user through the application 115, but also parameters specifying the display card 310 used to display the content of the notification. All information pushed / pulled from the application server 130 can be associated with one or more cards. For example, a notification may be pushed to a patient based on the results of an asthma risk analysis. The dashboard 300 processes this notification and determines the card to be used to present the information in this notification. Continuing the example, the recipient of the notification may generate a request to pull data from the application server 130. The application server 130 provides the requested data in another notification, and then the dashboard 300 determines the display card 310 on which the requested information will be displayed.

[0070] To facilitate interaction with the presented information, some display cards 310a include an input response area 315. For example, in the display card 310b shown in Figure 3B, the patient scrolls up or down within the input response area 315 to select a control medication used for asthma management, or selects "Next" to move to a further display card 310.

[0071] The dashboard 300 may provide a variety of different display cards 310 that can be categorized into multiple categories. Information card types include cards that display data. Information cards may display, for example, drug rescue events, statistics, and maps that include both patient data and community data. Information cards can be further categorized into event cards, trend cards, educational cards, and warning cards.

[0072] Event cards contain data related to rescue drug events (e.g., a historical list of drug rescue events for a particular patient, or patient rescue event data superimposed on a map for a particular provider). For example, display card 310a shown in Figure 3B is an event card that highlights patients experiencing asthma rescue events within a specific geographic area. Another event card may display an exemplary drug use report (e.g., a map of the location of rescue use events, environmental conditions at those locations, and an input response area 315 for the recipient to add triggers for rescue use events). Another event trend card may display rescue device use for the previous week (e.g., the total number of uses and the number of uses each day during that period).

[0073] Trend cards contain statistical information presented using graphs or charts designed to be easily understood by the recipient. Examples of trend cards include plots of asthma rescue events over various time periods, time-of-day trends, trends over several days of a week, and trigger trends. In this example, trend cards enable primary patients to understand specific respiratory data within the context of data from a general patient population.

[0074] Educational cards contain information for the recipient's educational purposes. From the educational cards, one can obtain general disease information and patient-specific tips to reduce the risk of rescue events. For some educational cards, an input response 315 may be required, allowing the recipient to specify whether the information provided is relevant or interesting if used in future cards.

[0075] Warning cards notify users of important information, such as the risk of an event and / or that no data has been received from the device in the past period. Other warnings include alerts that data synchronization is not possible due to settings on the client device (e.g., Bluetooth® is turned off) or that the patient's asthma risk score has changed.

[0076] The test card type requires user responses by presenting "yes / no," multiple-choice, or open-ended questions that elicit responses from the user. For example, a healthcare provider or asthma analysis system 100 may send a test card along with an asthma-related questionnaire to a patient 111 to determine the disease management level of a particular patient. Furthermore, the test card may request the types of control medications used by patient 111 to treat asthma symptoms. Generally, the test card provides the application server 130 with data that may not be included in the patient's medical history or patient profile (as described above) and / or provides updates to information that may be outdated and unsuitable for use. One or more test cards may be used to complete the patient registration process and generate a patient profile stored in the database server 140. For example, when patient 111 first registers with the respiratory disease analysis system 100, a push notification is triggered by the application server 130 to prompt patient 111 to generate a patient profile.

[0077] Examples of assessment cards include questions about whether the patient has visited the emergency room at least once as a result of an asthma rescue event, information about the patient's medications, the number of times the patient has used their rescue medications for event management, and the patient's daily medication schedule. Assessment cards may also include questions about asthma triggers specific to the patient (e.g., whether pollen is a trigger). Some assessment cards may ask the patient to assess their general quality of life based on a 5-point Leicert scale, and to evaluate the quality of their sleep and their activity level over the past seven days. Other assessment cards may ask the patient whether they feel better or worse compared to yesterday, and whether they have visited the emergency room or hospital due to a rescue event in the past 12 months.

[0078] In some cases, if there is a discrepancy between patient behavior or sensor-reported event information and existing patient information, the transmission of a test card may be triggered to clarify any uncertainties about the patient's condition. For example, if the number of asthma events a patient is experiencing is higher than expected, the test card may request information about the types of medications currently listed on the patient's medication device 160 to verify that the correct medications are being used. In another example, if the recorded information regarding the use of a control medication indicates that the patient uses the control medication only once a day, but the patient adherence plan indicates that the control medication should be used twice a day, the system 100 may send a notification asking the patient whether the adherence plan needs to be changed.

[0079] In some cases, if there is a discrepancy between patient behavior or sensor-reported event information and existing patient information, the transmission of a test card may be triggered to clarify any uncertainties about the patient's condition. For example, if the number of asthma events a patient is experiencing is higher than expected, the test card may request information about the types of medications currently listed on the patient's medication device 160 to verify that the correct medications are being used. As another example, if the recorded information regarding the use of a control medication indicates that the patient uses the control medication only once a day, but the patient adherence plan indicates that the control medication should be used twice a day, the system 100 may send a notification asking the patient whether the adherence plan needs to be changed.

[0080] Actionable data or messages presented by navigation cards may redirect the user to another screen or card that is part of the dashboard 300 during user interaction. For example, if a patient wishes to share information with their doctor or requests a specific medication plan from their doctor regarding their medication, navigation cards can facilitate the sharing of information or registrations during the controller adherence plan. Furthermore, navigation cards allow users to update information related to medication rescue events.

[0081] Adherence cards are designed to encourage patients to continue using their medications on schedule over different periods. Adherence cards may indicate "consecutive occurrences" (relative performance improvement) or consistent on-time medication events, even if they are not consecutive occurrences. Furthermore, the test card may inquire about the patient's physical condition in response to a significant number of rescue events being recorded relative to each other within a time threshold. Medication events may be presented as a graph showing whether patient 111 took their medications on time (as prescribed by their healthcare provider 112) or not over various periods throughout the day. The card may also show details of the daily schedule for medications and indicators showing whether the scheduled dose was taken. For example, a red "X" may indicate that the scheduled dose was not taken, while a green checkmark or a different symbol may indicate that the scheduled dose was taken.

[0082] The setup card guides the recipient through the association of the sensor with the client device 110. The setup card may guide the pairing of the sensor and the client device 110 using Bluetooth®, prompt the recipient to start the pairing process, prompt the user to select the sensor device to pair with, or notify the user that the sensor pairing is complete.

[0083] In some embodiments, the dashboard may present a user interface. The user interface may present a list of rescue events in response to the user selecting the “View Timeline” input response area 315c. This list displays rescue utilization events over a period of time and includes details (e.g., date, time, puff count, and location). The recipient may add further details by selecting to edit the rescue utilization event and / or edit the interactive response area. Some interfaces may present an event summary about the rescue utilization event to the user. The event summary may be presented to the user in response to the user selecting to edit the interactive response area of ​​the user interface. From the dashboard, the user may also view and edit a drug list and detailed information (e.g., drug type (e.g., rescue, controller), dose schedule, and sensor).

[0084] To initialize asthma risk notifications, the patient interfaces with the dashboard 300 to initialize their patient profile. After the patient completes their patient profile, the client device 110 transmits the patient profile for use by the application server 130 and storage by the database server 140. After the patient's patient profile is initialized, the application server 130 may begin receiving rescue drug events detected by the sensor 120 associated with the patient's medication device 160. This patient profile initialization process is performed only the first time the patient uses their medication device. Notifications may be automatically generated if the patient is found to have particularly weak conditions compared to the general patient population, as described below.

[0085] When the sensor detects a rescue event, the patient device 111 collects rescue event data and sends it to the application server 130, where the event information is stored (415). In some embodiments, this detection and storage process is always repeated when a rescue event is detected. However, this frequency may differ from the frequency of risk analysis.

[0086] Figure 4 is an interactive diagram illustrating an exemplary process for providing asthma risk notifications based on drug device monitoring. As described, data collection from drug device monitoring provides event alerts to patients (e.g., patient 111 in Figure 1) based on a large population. As an initial step, the patient interfaces with the dashboard 300 in Figure 3A to initialize a patient profile (405). After the patient completes their patient profile, the client device 110 sends the patient profile for use by the application server 130 and storage by the database server 140. After the initialization of the patient profile (405), the application server 130 may receive rescue drug events detected by the sensor 120 associated with the patient's drug device 160. The initialization and completion of the patient profile are performed only on the first use of the drug device 160.

[0087] The application server 130 typically receives a rescue event whenever a patient uses their rescue drug dispenser 160 to alleviate a respiratory illness (e.g., asthma-related event symptoms). As an example of the process for capturing such events for a particular device 160 / sensor 120 combination, at the onset of symptoms, the sensor 120 may detect whether the cover of the drug dispenser 160 is open. If the drug dispenser cover is open, the sensor 120 may detect an acceleration associated with priming the dispenser 160. For some types of drug dispensers, "priming" involves activating a mechanism that releases a single dose of medication from its packaging. For other types of drug dispensers, "priming" involves rapidly shaking the medication canister.

[0088] After detecting priming activity, the sensor 120 is configured to store data associated with the rescue event in the sensor 120's active memory (415). The rescue event data may include information describing the time and date associated with the rescue event, the status or condition of the drug device 160 (e.g., battery level), the remaining dose (before or after the event), self-test results, and physiological data of the patient being treated with the drug device 160, as measured by the sensor 120. As soon as the sensor establishes a network connection with the client device 110 or the network 150, the sensor sends all locally stored rescue event data to the client device 110 or the application server 130. If the event data is first sent to the client device 110, the client device 110 sends the rescue event data to the application server 130 as soon as the client device 110 establishes a network connection with the network 150. Depending on the implementation, the client device 110 or the sensor 120 adds the geographical location where the event occurred to the event data sent to the application server 130.

[0089] Once rescue use event data is received and stored, the application server 130 may request further information describing the rescue use event from the patient. To obtain this information, the application server 130 generates a push notification. This push notification includes a question to be sent to the patient's client device 110. The client device 110 may present the push notification as a test type card 310. The patient may respond to the request by providing input 315 to the test card 310. Alternatively, patient 111 may choose not to respond to the request. This is acceptable, and if there is a gap in information, it may be obtained through subsequent push notifications or entered by provider 112 after meeting with patient 111. In one implementation, if further requested data is not received in response to the request, the remainder of the analysis in steps 425-445 is not hindered.

[0090] Based on information collected as part of an event or otherwise, the asthma analysis system detects trigger conditions (420). Trigger conditions may include information relating to the triggering of an event, the location of the rescue event, the label of the location (e.g., work, home, or school), an assessment of the personal importance of the location to the patient, and parameters that played a role in whether the use was preemptive (e.g., taking medication before exercise), in addition to any other relevant information.

[0091] In addition to requesting further event data, the application server 130 accesses stored contextual data from the database server 140 (425). Generally, contextual data refers to data other than event data, including but not limited to: atmospheric conditions, weather conditions, air quality conditions, pollen data, patient data recorded from past rescue use events, and any other considerations not directly detected by the drug device at the time of the rescue use event. In contrast, event data refers to any parameters related to a rescue event and reported by the drug device (e.g., drug dose, event time, event location, and relevant adherence data). Both forms of data may include current information and stored historical data. Thus, as part of obtaining contextual data, the application server 130 also accesses patient 111's rescue use event history data. This history data may include all data from any past controller or rescue drug event data from the patient's history across various past time windows, and each historical event may include all identical items of information reported for that event (410) and any data collected in subsequent follow-up.

[0092] After trigger condition data is collected, trigger events are determined (420), and context data 425 is obtained, the routine performs an asthma risk analysis 430. As described below, this risk analysis 430 is performed in relation to both the primary patient and the general patient population for each of the specific selected parameters taken from the collected context data. As described below, the specific selected context data parameters are specified as trigger conditions based on the analysis of the context data and trigger events for both the primary patient and the general patient population. In this example, the trigger event is related to specific environmental data in the context data. Next, the routine generates a risk score notification 435. These risk score notifications are generated in relation to the average risk of the environmental parameter, as described below. Next, the routine sends the risk index notification to the application on the client device 110 to display the results to the patient as shown in Figure 3B (440). The risk index may be a percentile of the coefficient of the condition. For example, the risk index may be related to a bucket of environment variables, as described below. The routine also sends a risk score notification to the client device 110 for provider 112 (445). The risk score may also be sent to patient 111.

[0093] However, in some cases, contextual data and historical data are represented separately. Contextual data may be used to refer to geographical and regional information related to the current event or the current location of the patient's client device 110, while historical data may be used to refer to geographical and event information from previous rescue utilization events from the same patient or different patients.

[0094] While considering multiple asthma rescue inhaler use events individually yields little insight into specific factors contributing to rescue events, these events contain useful data for identifying correlations between rescue events. For example, analyzing only a single rescue event may not provide clear details of the specific conditions that caused that rescue event from the asthma event contextual environmental data. However, that single event at least indicates that specific conditions were present at the time of the event. By considering the contextual data of individual events in addition to contextual data from several other relevant or similar events from the general patient population, the data analysis module 131 can identify triggers that primary patients are susceptible to or dissatisfied with a high degree of certainty. These trigger sensitivity scores are continuously refined by regression analysis each time further data is collected relating to primary patients and the general patient population. Trigger sensitivity scores are constructed in relation to the distribution of raw sensitivity scores in the patient population and are calculated as percentiles.

[0095] In a typical deployment, database 140 receives data on rescue use events as soon as such events occur, and updates the primary patient data storage and the general patient population data storage to reflect contextual data associated with the most recent rescue use event for all patients in the primary patient and patient population. The frequency with which the data storage is updated with new rescue use events may vary depending on several factors (non-limiting examples include the patient's condition, the patient's adherence to the medication plan, and environmental conditions). Patient adherence to the prescribed medication plan is a comparison between the frequency with which the patient uses the controller inhaler unit per day and the frequency with which the patient is instructed to use the controller inhaler unit per day, and may be measured based on the degree of controller inhaler unit use.

[0096] In one example, the process of determining triggers for a patient is performed by the data analysis module 131 of the analysis system 100 in Figure 1, based on an analysis of primary patient context data and a comparison between trigger occurrence data from the patient population. Figure 5 is a block diagram showing the logical components that perform the functions of the data analysis module 131 in one example. The analysis system 100 includes the data analysis module 131 on the application server 130. The data analysis module 131 analyzes various data collected by the system (which are described further above and below) to identify triggers for primary patients at risk of an emergency inhaler use event. These trigger analyses are used to generate notifications. These notifications are clearly configured to be sent to primary patients in a sufficiently timely manner to avoid or anticipate the occurrence of respiratory events (e.g., asthma or COPD events) that may require the use of an emergency inhaler.

[0097] The data analysis engine 131 receives input from the database 140 in the form of daily patient usage data 510. As described below, the daily patient usage data 510 includes a primary patient data storage unit and a secondary patient data storage unit. The data analysis engine 131 includes a discretization module 520, a patient similarity module 530, a regression module 540, a relative ranking module 560, a content supply module 570, and a predictive adjustment module 580. Different coefficients 550 are output from the regression module 540 for evaluating each trigger condition for the primary patient.

[0098] Daily patient data 510 consists of usage and context data collected from both the primary patient and the patient population (e.g., patient 111 in Figure 1). The data may include usage data from therapeutic devices (e.g., drug device 160 in Figure 1). Context data may be obtained from independent databases or other sensors. Further relevant data (e.g., weather, pollutants, land use, and other environmental data) and activity data may be collected from other patient sensors or other sources. As described above, the collected data is stored in a database (e.g., database 140 in Figure 1).

[0099] The patient-specific trigger analysis performed by the data analysis engine 131 for rescue inhaler use events is based on patient data from the patient population (e.g., contextual data, demographic data, and clinical data). As described herein, the patient for whom trigger determination is made by module 131 is referred to as the “primary patient,” and each of the other patients in a pair of similar patients is referred to as a “secondary patient.” Both primary and secondary patients are members of the general patient population. Contextual information contained in the primary patient data storage of database 140 describes daily that the patient is associated with a rescue inhaler (e.g., drug device 160 in Figure 1). Primary patient data also includes demographic and clinical data describing the medical conditions of the primary patient and their drug administration plan. Similarly, the secondary patient data storage of database 140 stores demographic, clinical, and contextual data for the other patients in the pair. This pair of similar patients may be determined according to several methods. For example, the use of a group of other patients may be determined by patients using rescue inhalers connected via the same network 150 (e.g., a 3G mobile phone tower router, a local internet service provider), thereby geographically grouping patients. For example, if there are 100 patients using rescue inhalers communicating with network 150, the primary patient memory unit stores data associated with one user (whose trigger has been determined at that time), and the secondary patient data memory unit stores data associated with the remaining 99 people. In other ways, other criteria may be used (e.g., based on contextual data, demographic data, or clinical data (specific examples are given below)). Primary and secondary patient data generally contain the same information (e.g., contextual data, demographic data, and patient data).

[0100] Contextual data describes the days in which one or more rescue events actually occurred and the days in which no rescue use events occurred. The primary patient data storage in database 140 may also include a record of the user's behavior during the first month in which the user used sensor 120 with the drug device 160. Examples of contextual data, non-limiting, include air pollutant conditions (e.g., ozone molecules (O3), nitrogen dioxide molecules (NO2), sulfur dioxide molecules (SO2), particulate matter ≤ 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), particulate matter, particulate matter ≤ 10 micrometers (PM10), and air quality index), as well as meteorological conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, local atmospheric pressure, and visibility). Each contextual condition also indicates a potential trigger condition that contributes to or stimulates rescue inhaler use events. Generally, the collection of contextual data may be automated based on device or other third-party data reports, manually by the patient and / or provider, or otherwise obtained. Identification of rescue inhaler use events and other contextual data may be based on the location where the event temporarily occurred while the sensor 120, client device 110, and / or drug device 160 were physically positioned within the geographic domain boundary.

[0101] Demographic data describes each patient (for example, non-limitingly, each user's gender, sex, and primary location). Primary location refers to the geographical area where the patient spends most of their time (e.g., home address or office address). The size of the geographical area may vary depending on the patient's frequency of rescue inhaler use and the patient's risk level (e.g., area of ​​500 feet, latitude / longitude coordinates, zip code, city boundaries). Demographic data may be manually entered by the patient via the GUI300 during the setup of sensor 120 use, or it may be provided by the healthcare provider for association with their system.

[0102] Patient data may also include clinical information (e.g., type of medication, prescribed dosage, prescription data, dosage taken, adherence medication plan comparing the frequency per day the patient takes rescue medication with the frequency prescribed to take rescue medication). Patient data is typically entered by the healthcare provider, but may also be entered manually by the patient.

[0103] Individual primary patients may be more susceptible to the effects of specific trigger conditions than other patients. As described herein, triggers refer to measurable quantities (e.g., environmental conditions from contextual data). These measurable quantities are used independently or in combination with one or more triggers that worsen a patient's condition and cause a rescue inhaler use event. For example, under conditions including high levels of humidity, one patient may have a higher risk of an asthma rescue use event than another. Therefore, the data analysis engine 131 determines the triggers relevant to each patient and the relative risk for the patient for each trigger in relation to its distribution in the general patient population (if any). Thus, the trigger coefficients represent the absolute risk of the trigger for the primary patient. Relative risks, which are coefficients as quantiles of the distribution of all patients, are also determined.

[0104] In this example, the discretization module 520 converts continuous environmental context variable data into discrete variable buckets. This process groups environmental data from various regions into different buckets. In this example, a “region” is, for convenience of the type of data collected, data format, and other factors, a patient in a particular country. These buckets can be generated by different techniques (e.g., generating buckets of the same size across a certain range of parameters or generating specific peak thresholds). Peak thresholds may be determined from domain knowledge or as percentiles of the variables experienced by the patient overall. For example, the 90th percentile and above may be selected as the bucket for ozone, and may descend to a value of 0.07 ppm. This makes it easier to compare regressions across multiple regions with different environmental conditions, focusing on the effects of extreme conditions, and determining whether a primary patient is susceptible to trigger conditions. Other data may be used to determine susceptibility. For example, land use and other location data (e.g., the building environment related to the patient) may be analyzed. Activities performed by the patient may also be used from worn health monitors.

[0105] For example, if the variables are kept continuous, extremely high coefficients may be obtained for individuals residing in Southern California in relation to temperature-triggered events. However, temperatures within this region only vary within the range of 65-75 degrees. It is difficult to compare the obtained coefficients with those for individuals in New York City, where temperatures can vary within the range of 30-100 degrees. This problem can be addressed by using a discretization process for the variables. That is, when a patient is not exposed to extreme conditions, the discrete variable sequence representing those conditions is all 0s, and these variables are effectively excluded from the regression, resulting in coefficients of 0. Only users who have experienced a specific trigger condition will generate coefficients indicating the risk associated with that condition, allowing for comparisons between similar individuals with other patients who have experienced the same condition. This is not possible when the variables are continuous.

[0106] Figure 6A is a diagram of the discretization process of environmental parameters such as temperature by the discretization module 520. An exemplary sequence of environmental variables 610 (e.g., a temperature of 85 degrees) is determined from collected daily patient data. A set of discretization rules 612 is applied for bucket generation. In this example, the temperature-related discretization rules yield a set of temperature ranges 614. The discrete variable routine 616 classifies the obtained temperature data (85 degrees) according to applicable rules. In this example, routine 616 generates a series of buckets 618 that classify the obtained data. For example, the 85-degree temperature data is added to buckets above 75 and 80 degrees via 1, while other buckets have zeros indicating that the data does not fall into those buckets.

[0107] The patient similarity module 530 takes the patient's static characteristics when they first join the system and identifies the most similar patient based on these characteristics. Scaling and weighting may be performed on the variables, and similarity measures may include functions based on Gaussian radials, inverse Euclidean distance, cosine distance, or any other appropriate kernel or similarity measure. In some examples where sufficient primary patient data has been collected, a set dataset containing only primary patient data may be used. Sufficient primary patient data allows the data analysis module 131 to identify (with a high level of certainty based solely on the patient's data) whether a primary patient is susceptible or unsuspecting to each trigger condition. However, to make this identification with a high level of certainty, a large amount of data is needed from primary patients using rescue inhalers over a long period (e.g., several months to several years). Therefore, in order to reduce the time required for the data analysis module 131 to confidently identify trigger conditions for relatively new patients, the patient similarity module 530 supplements the aggregate dataset by supplying data from primary patients and secondary patients who are demographically, contextually, and clinically similar to them, in order to make these decisions with greater certainty. Thus, in these cases, aggregate data containing data from both primary and secondary patients is used. When data collection from primary patients is performed for the first time, it may be necessary to use data from secondary patients. The more data collected from primary patients, the less secondary patient data will be used. Generally, secondary patient data is used when there are patients who are "sufficiently similar" to the primary patient. The weighting of secondary patient data is generally scaled back as more data is collected from primary patients.

[0108] Figure 6B is a detailed view of the patient similarity module 530. The patient similarity module 540 includes a scaling submodule 630, a feature weighting submodule 632, and a similarity submodule 634. The similarity submodule 634 outputs K nearest-nearest patient weights 636. These patient weights 636 constitute the secondary patients most similar to the primary patient. A set of patient records 638 is input to the scaling submodule 630. These patient records contain different types of data. In this example, the data may include patient ID, sex, geographical location, medication, and dosage. Each different type of data is a variable scaled by the scaling submodule 630. A set of weights is added to each of the different types of data from the feature weighting submodule 632. The similarity submodule 634 determines the similarity from the secondary based on these weights. The output of the similarity submodule 634 is the K nearest-nearest patient weights, which is the number of sets of secondary patients determined to be most similar to the primary patient. These datasets of K similar secondary patients are stored in the secondary patient data storage unit and then aggregated together with the data from the primary patient for input to the regression module 540 in Figure 5. As mentioned above, secondary patient data can be used when data from the primary patient is insufficient.

[0109] The regression module 540 performs regression analysis on data collected from primary patients over a set period to provide trigger conditions for primary patients. As the amount of data collected increases, further regression analysis is performed by the regression module 540 at regular intervals, thereby improving the accuracy of the analysis in relation to the trigger conditions. The regression module 540 performs statistical analysis of the primary patient's risk score in relation to each trigger condition. More specifically, the regression module 540 can determine the significance, certainty, and magnitude of the risk score for each trigger condition.

[0110] Figure 6C is a block diagram of the components of the regression module 540. The regression module 530 includes a primary patient input 650 and a secondary patient input 652. The primary patient input 650 is daily data collected from the primary patient up to a specified time T. The secondary patient input 652 is data collected from patients determined by the patient similarity module 530 to be sufficiently similar to the primary patient. The patient similarity weight module 654 adds patient similarity weights 636 and optimal hyperparameters 656 from the patient similarity module 530 in Figure 6B to the data from the secondary patient input 652. The data from the primary patient 650 and the weighted data from the secondary patient 654 are input into the weighted training data module 658. From the weighted training data module 658, weights for the various data collected from the patient data inputs 650 and 652 are provided to the windowing module 660. The windowing submodule 660 restricts each type of data from the weighted training data module 658 to the training submodule 662. Windowing may include time parameters, current conditions, or historical conditions for that type of data. For example, windowing may be used to calculate the current ozone level or the average and maximum ozone levels over the past two, three, or four days. Optimal hyperparameters 656 are derived from the output of the population adjustment submodule 664. For example, hyperparameters 656 may include: the number of similar patients to include, the weighting scheme to use, the size of the window for "looking back," and the normalization / penalty size used during regression. Optimal hyperparameters 656 are provided in the weight module 654, the windowing submodule 660, and the training submodule 662. From the training submodule 662, variable coefficients 666 are output. Variable coefficients 666 are the relative values ​​of each environmental parameter for a specific primary patient that may trigger a respiratory event.

[0111] In this example, the population adjustment submodule 664 searches for optimal hyperparameters 656. Examples of these hyperparameters, non-restrictive, include the trailing window size for variable aggregation / summary, the number of similar patients (if any), the sample weighting scheme for similar patients (if any), and the hyperparameters of the model used in the training submodule 662 itself (e.g., normalization / penalty terms). Optimal hyperparameters are the overall process "settings" that minimize the mean error of out-of-sample data during the cross-validation process. Such hyperparameters can be optimized by training different models on different percentages of the dataset (to determine the appropriateness of data not used in the training process). For example, data from the past two, three, or four days can be analyzed to determine whether two, three, or four days represent the optimal hyperparameters.

[0112] The population adjustment submodule 664 can identify optimal hyperparameters in different ways depending on the type of hyperparameter. For example, the optimal hyperparameters for regression-based hyperparameters (e.g., trailing window size and normalization) can be identified by a process known as time-series k-fold cross-validation. To do this, each individual time series is divided into different consecutive time segments, and individual patient models are trained on the first segment, their performance on the second segment is evaluated, they are trained on the first and second segments, and their performance on the third segment is evaluated. This process is repeated until the final segment is reached. At this final segment, the out-of-sample performance is averaged over all time segments for all users. The hyperparameters that minimize the mean out-of-sample error are selected. Regarding secondary patient identification hyperparameters (e.g., the number of similar patients to be included and the weighting scheme to be used for these similar patients), the identification of these secondary patient identification hyperparameters can be done by sampling different numbers of similar patients and different weighting schemes, training a single model on the resulting secondary patient datasets, and then evaluating the model performance on primary patient data (which is, by definition, out-of-sample of the secondary patient data). This is repeated for each patient, and the hyperparameters that minimize the mean error across the entire population are selected.

[0113] The training submodule 662 performs regression analysis on the (weighted) training data from the weighted training module 658 to generate variable coefficients 666 for the primary patient. The training submodule 662 controls for individual patient risk, seasonality, and time to isolate the effects of environmental variables on each patient over the cumulative period.

[0114] The population adjustment submodule 664 can be run at a significantly smaller cadence than the training submodule 662, leading to a reduction in computational resources. For example, the training submodule 662 may be run every 30 days for data collected from each primary patient, while the population adjustment submodule 664 may be run every 90 days for data from the entire patient population to optimize hyperparameters with newly added data.

[0115] The output variable coefficients 666 can be point estimates or distributions based on frequentist standard error, Bayesian, or bootstrap methods. For example, the coefficient for temperatures below 50 could be a point estimate of 0.2 or a normal distribution (generated from one of the methods described), with a mean of 0.3 and a standard deviation of 0.1.

[0116] The relative ranking module 560 in Figure 5 outputs the relative ranking of the coefficients for each parameter of the primary patient in relation to the distribution of coefficients in the general patient population. Figure 6D shows the components of the relative ranking module 560. The relative ranking module 550 receives the coefficients 670 for each environmental parameter from the regression module 540. Each of these coefficients is related to a variable (V) up to time T. For example, the variable could be a coefficient of temperature below 50 over the first 30 days for each patient in the population. The ranking submodule 672 takes the point estimate or distribution of each coefficient calculated by the regression module 540 and ranks the coefficient values ​​up to time T as percentiles 674 relative to the rest of the historical population for the exemplary variable V of the patient. The coefficient database 676 supplies the corresponding coefficient value distributions for the entire patient population to the ranking submodule 672. The percentile or percentile range 674 determined by the ranking submodule 672 is then sent into the threshold submodule 678. Threshold values ​​may vary depending on clinical and product relevance. The threshold submodule 678 generates label output 680 from different label options (for example, not limited to "below mean," "above mean," or "significantly above mean") based on a comparison up to time T between the coefficient of the primary patient and the threshold of the coefficient distribution for the entire patient population for the exemplary variable V. Of course, other descriptive labels (e.g., low, good, and high) may be used. In this example, three layers of descriptive labels are used, but more or fewer layers of descriptive labels and corresponding ranges may be used in this example.

[0117] The content supply module 570 provides output labels 680 from the relative ranking module 560 to an application accessible to the patient, for example, as shown in Figure 3A. The labels can be used to generate content throughout the application that informs the patient of their relative sensitivity and personal content (e.g., ongoing tracking and warnings about the conditions under which the patient falls within the upper percentile of the sensitivity value distribution).

[0118] The content delivery module 570 can also compare the variable labels from the current cumulative period with those from a previous, shorter period, thereby identifying changes in relative sensitivity. When the sensitivity labels change, other content may also be provided.

[0119] Label data 680, which can be used to characterize the overall risk value reflecting all relevant trigger conditions or events for the primary patient, is also output to the predictive adjustment module 580. Relative sensitivity labels can be used to adjust the individualized prediction for the primary patient. For example, if a patient is predicted to have conditions with high-percentile sensitivity, the individualized prediction may display a deterioration in the individualized prediction output and the term "good." For example, if the primary patient is in a higher percentile in the patient population distribution for sensitivity to temperature, the more conservative and higher-risk term "good" may be selected as the display for the primary patient on the application interface in Figure 3A (even if the term "good" is commonly used). Furthermore, if a patient is predicted to have significantly higher mean sensitivity, the individualized prediction may display the label "bad" (regardless of whether the potential risk score is between 0 and 1). In this way, the patient can understand the degree of risk of respiratory events or disease in a non-statistical context.

[0120] By comparing the coefficients of primary patients with the coefficient value distribution for a general patient population, different functions of the application in Figures 3A and 3B can be adjusted. For example, a warning may be generated for a patient indicating that a new trigger has been detected. For instance, such a warning would not be generated for most patients, but the routine may determine that a primary patient has a high susceptibility to a particular parameter, thereby generating the warning for that primary patient.

[0121] A notification may be generated after the data analysis module 131 determines that the patient is highly sensitive to a trigger. This notification may include a list of labeled triggers, a list of triggers still being analyzed, information characterizing the trigger, a relative risk score, a comparison of the trigger to trigger occurrences in the general patient population, and options the patient may take to avoid another rescue utilization event when a trigger is present. This notification may take the form of a card delivered to the client device 110 via the dashboard 300 as described above. This notification may also be provided to other devices (e.g., a healthcare provider's client device 110).

[0122] The interface 700 shown in Figure 7 displays variables based on labels individually tailored to the primary patient, as determined by the predictive adjustment module 622. Interface 700 can be generated by an application on a mobile device operated by the primary patient. Interface 700 includes the general probability of triggering a respiratory status assessment 710 based on the relevant contextual parameter values ​​for that day. As described above, the general probability is displayed as labels corresponding to risk factors for respiratory diseases such as asthma in the primary patient.

[0123] In addition, the interface 700 includes specific contextual parameters selected for primary patients based on coefficients that are higher than predicted. In this example, the contextual parameters of air quality, temperature, humidity, particulate matter (PM) smaller than 2.5 micrometers, and ozone (O3) are analyzed as high-risk parameters for primary patients. Therefore, the display 700 includes an air quality field 720, a temperature field 722, a humidity field 724, a PM2.5 field 726, and an ozone field 728. Each of these fields (e.g., the air quality field 720) includes a description 730 of the parameter (e.g., air quality), a numerical value 732, a graph 734 showing the relative amount of the numerical value, and a descriptive label 736. These fields 720-728 are selected based on a comparison of high-percentile patient coefficients for primary patients with the distribution of the coefficient population as described above.

[0124] The distribution of coefficient values ​​is determined from the overall population of patients with potential respiratory illnesses using the device that collects usage data, and which have similar periods of data collection for regression analysis. As described above, the regression is performed and coefficients are generated after the first T day. Each coefficient is compared with all patients in the population who have reached at least T day, but this coefficient distribution is generated solely from the regression on the data of all these patients up to T day. Therefore, even if the comparison patient population has used the device for a significantly longer period than the primary patients, the comparison is performed only over the exact same period as the primary patients.

[0125] However, the general patient population can be narrowed down to a smaller subset in the procedure described above. For example, the general patient population can be determined by filtering the overall population of all patients by an element (e.g., medications used, initial disease severity, or only patients experiencing a specific respiratory illness). For example, initial disease severity for respiratory distress can be measured by an asthma control trial (ACT) score or a COPD assessment (CAT) score. Narrowing the general population may be done by excluding all patients whose coefficient for a particular environmental condition is 0, or by using any other indicator to identify patients who have not experienced that environmental condition within period T.

[0126] The flowchart in Figure 8 illustrates an exemplary machine-readable instruction to collect and analyze data to label events based on primary patient data in relation to a general population. In this example, the machine-readable instruction includes an algorithm executed by: (a) a processor; (b) a controller; and / or (c) one or more other suitable processing devices. The algorithm may be embedded in software stored on a tangible medium (e.g., flash memory, CD-ROM, floppy disk, hard drive, digital video (versatile) disk (DVD) or other memory device). However, those skilled in the art will understand that the entire algorithm and / or parts thereof may be executed by a device other than a processor and / or embedded in firmware or dedicated hardware in a well-known manner (e.g., this may be executed by application-specific integrated circuits [ASICs], programmable logic devices [PLDs], field-programmable logic devices [FPLDs], field-programmable gate arrays [FPGAs], or discrete logic). For example, any or all of the components of an interface may be executed by software, hardware and / or firmware. Furthermore, some or all of the machine-readable instructions shown in the flowchart may be executed manually. In addition, while the exemplary algorithm is described with reference to the flowchart in Figure 8, those skilled in the art will readily understand that numerous other methods may be used to execute the exemplary machine-readable instructions. For example, the order in which the blocks are executed may be changed, and / or some of the described blocks may be modified, removed, or combined.

[0127] The routine in Figure 8 is performed by the data analysis module 131. The data analysis module 131 collects contextual data relevant to all patients in the patient population (800). The data analysis module 131 also collects activation data based on decisions made using a drug distribution device (e.g., an inhaler (802)). The routine determines whether the update period for the primary patient has been reached (804). In this example, the regression analysis period for the primary patient is every 30 days for the collected data. If the period has been reached for the primary patient, a regression analysis is performed on all the collected data to update the primary patient's coefficients in relation to the trigger event (806). The regression analysis may include secondary patients similar to the primary patient based on the optimal K value as described above.

[0128] After obtaining the coefficients for the primary patient, the primary patient's coefficients are compared to the coefficient distribution for the entire patient population (808). Next, the overall risk element for the primary patient is determined in the routine (810). Then, labels are selected based on the primary patient's risk element and the label selection is adjusted based on a comparison with the coefficient distribution for the patient population (812). Parameters are also selected in the routine that indicate the primary patient is related to coefficients that fall within the high percentiles compared to the coefficient distribution for the general population (814).

[0129] Continuous monitoring in the system shown in Figure 1 can be used for various respiratory disorders, including asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis, and bronchiectasis. However, the principles described above should be understood as not being limited to such applications.

[0130] As used in this application, terms such as “component,” “module,” and “system” generally refer to computer-related entities that are either hardware (e.g., circuits), a combination of hardware and software, software, or entities relating to an operating machine having one or more specific functions. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to, a process, a processor, an object, an executable file, an execution thread, a program, and / or a computer that runs on a processor (e.g., a digital signal processor). For illustrative purposes, both an application and a controller running on a controller may be components. One or more components may reside during process and / or thread execution, and one component may be locally located on one computer and / or distributed across two or more computers. Furthermore, a “device” may take the form of specially designed hardware, general-purpose hardware specialized by the execution of software that enables the performance of specific functions, software stored on a computer-readable medium, or a combination thereof.

[0131] One or more further implementations and / or claims of the present disclosure can be formed by combining one or more elements, aspects, steps, or parts thereof from any one or more of the following claims 1 to 40 with one or more elements, aspects, steps, or parts thereof from any one or more of the other claims 1 to 40 or any combination thereof.

[0132] While this disclosure has been described with reference to one or more specific embodiments or implementations, those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications are possible without departing from the intent and scope of this disclosure. Each of these implementations and its clearest modifications is intended to fall within the intent and scope of this disclosure. Further implementations in accordance with aspects of this disclosure may also combine any number of features from any of the implementations described herein.

Claims

1. A method for determining trigger conditions that trigger respiratory diseases, Computers For each patient in the patient population, activation data of a drug device for delivering respiratory medication to the patient is acquired via a sensor that detects the use of the drug device and stored in a storage device. The patient's contextual parameter data, including information about environmental conditions at the time of each activation event of the drug device, is acquired via the sensor or an external information source and stored in the storage device. Accessing the startup data and contextual parameter data stored over a certain period for primary patients in the aforementioned patient population, If the aforementioned primary patient's activation data contains activation data resulting from a change in the patient's environmental conditions, the occurrence of a rescue event is determined. For each patient in the aforementioned patient population, the coefficient of each of the at least one contextual parameter is determined by regression analysis based on the correlation between at least one contextual parameter and the rescue event, and For each of the at least one contextual parameter, the coefficient of the contextual parameter for the primary patient is compared with the coefficient distribution of the corresponding contextual parameter for the patient population, and the contextual parameter to be presented to the patient as a trigger condition is selected from the relative rank of the coefficients of each of the at least one contextual parameter for the primary patient obtained by the comparison. How to do it.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining the coefficient in part on the contextual parameter data, and determining the occurrence of the rescue event on the acquired activation data of at least one secondary patient similar to the primary patient in the patient population of the primary patient's contextual parameters.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising determining the coefficients based on a regression analysis of the context parameters related to the acquired startup data, which has been optimized by at least one hyperparameter.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising performing the regression analysis on the acquired startup data and contextual data after a first predetermined period.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising selecting the coefficients of the patient population for each patient in the patient population based on the regression analysis performed after a first predetermined period.

6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising adjusting the at least one hyperparameter over a second predetermined period based on the acquired contextual parameter data for the patient population.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the respiratory disease is asthma.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the at least one contextual parameter includes one of air pollutant conditions or meteorological conditions.

9. The aforementioned air pollutant conditions are the air quality index and ozone molecules (O ３ ), nitrogen dioxide molecules (NO ２ ), sulfur dioxide molecule (SO ２ The method according to claim 8, wherein the particulate matter is one of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5) or 10 micrometers or less (PM10).

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the weather condition is one of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, local atmospheric pressure, and visibility.

11. Determining a plurality of trigger conditions, including the trigger condition determined above. Assigning a coefficient to each of the aforementioned multiple trigger conditions, and The coefficients are compared with the coefficient distributions for each of the multiple trigger conditions from the patient population. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising:

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising displaying a selected trigger condition from a plurality of trigger conditions based on whether the coefficient of the primary patient falls within a certain percentile of the coefficient distribution of the patient population.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising assigning a descriptive label correlated with the overall risk factors of the primary patient.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising displaying the descriptive label on the primary patient.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, further comprising warning the primary patient if the coefficient falls within the high percentile distribution of the coefficient of the patient population.

16. It is a system, A control system including one or more processors, and Includes memory where machine-readable instructions are stored, The control system is connected to the memory, and the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15 is executed when the machine-readable instruction in the memory is executed by at least one of the one or more processors of the control system.

17. A system for communicating one or more points to a user, the system comprising a control system configured to perform the method described in any one of claims 1 to 15.

18. A program for causing a computer to perform the procedure described in any one of claims 1 to 15.

19. A program product comprising a program for causing a computer to perform the procedure described in any one of claims 1 to 15, recorded on a non-temporary computer-readable medium.

20. A method for evaluating trigger events for respiratory disease in primary patients, Computers For each patient in a patient population, usage data of a drug device for delivering respiratory drugs to the patient is acquired via a sensor that detects the use of the drug device and stored in a storage device, wherein the usage data includes drug dosage, time of use event, location of use event, and associated adherence data. The patient's contextual parameter data, including information about environmental conditions at the time of each use event of the drug device, is acquired via the sensor or an external information source and stored in the storage device. For each patient in the aforementioned patient population, the coefficient of each of the at least one contextual parameter is determined by regression analysis based on the correlation between at least one contextual parameter and the usage event, and For each of the at least one contextual parameter, the coefficient of the contextual parameter for the primary patient is compared with the coefficient distribution of the corresponding contextual parameter for the patient population, and the contextual parameter to be presented to the patient as a trigger condition is selected from the relative rank of the coefficients of each of the at least one contextual parameter for the primary patient obtained by the comparison. How to do it.

21. The method according to claim 20, further comprising obtaining activation data for at least one secondary patient similar to the primary patient in the patient population, wherein the coefficient is determined in part on the contextual parameter data and the occurrence of rescue events based on the at least one secondary patient.

22. The method according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the coefficient is determined based on a regression analysis of the context parameter related to the acquired usage data, which is optimized by at least one hyperparameter.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the regression analysis is performed on the acquired usage data and contextual data after a first predetermined period.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the coefficient of the patient population is selected based on a regression analysis performed after a first predetermined period for each patient in the patient population.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein the at least one hyperparameter is adjusted over a second predetermined period based on the acquired contextual parameter data for the patient population.

26. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 25, wherein the respiratory disease is asthma.

27. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 26, wherein the at least one contextual parameter includes one of air pollutant conditions or meteorological conditions.

28. The aforementioned air pollutant conditions are the air quality index and ozone molecules (O ３ ), nitrogen dioxide molecules (NO ２ ), sulfur dioxide molecule (SO ２ The method according to claim 27, wherein the particulate matter is one of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5) or 10 micrometers or less (PM10).

29. The method according to claim 27, wherein the weather condition is one of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, local atmospheric pressure, and visibility.

30. Determining a plurality of trigger conditions, including the trigger condition determined above. Assigning a coefficient to each of the aforementioned multiple trigger conditions, and The coefficients are compared with the coefficient distributions for each of the multiple trigger conditions from the patient population. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 29, further comprising:

31. The method according to claim 30, further comprising displaying a selected trigger condition from a plurality of trigger conditions based on whether the coefficient of the primary patient falls within a certain percentile of the coefficient distribution of the patient population.

32. The method according to claim 31, further comprising assigning a descriptive label correlated with the overall risk factors of the primary patient.

33. The method according to claim 32, further comprising displaying the descriptive label on the primary patient.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the display of the descriptive label and the selected trigger condition is performed on the display of a mobile device.

35. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 34, further comprising warning the primary patient if the coefficient falls within the high percentile distribution of the coefficient of the patient population.

36. A system for determining the conditions that trigger respiratory diseases, A communication interface that, for each patient in a patient population, receives activation data of a drug device for delivering respiratory medication to the patient via a sensor that detects the use of the drug device, and receives patient context parameter data, including information about the environmental conditions at the time each activation event of the drug device occurs, via the sensor or an external information source. A storage device for storing the startup data and the context parameter data, Data analysis module, Includes, The aforementioned data analysis module is Access the startup data and context parameter data stored over a certain period for primary patients in the aforementioned patient population, If the aforementioned primary patient's activation data contains activation data resulting from a change in the patient's environmental conditions, the occurrence of a rescue event is determined. For each patient in the aforementioned patient population, the coefficient of each of the at least one contextual parameter is determined by regression analysis based on the correlation between at least one contextual parameter and the rescue event. For each of the at least one contextual parameter, the coefficient of the contextual parameter for the primary patient is compared with the coefficient distribution of the corresponding contextual parameter for the patient population, and the contextual parameter to be presented to the patient as a trigger condition is selected from the relative rank of the coefficients of each of the at least one contextual parameter for the primary patient obtained by the comparison. system.

37. The aforementioned data analysis module is Determining a plurality of trigger conditions, including the trigger condition determined above. Assigning a coefficient to each of the aforementioned multiple trigger conditions, and The coefficients are compared with the coefficient distributions for each of the multiple trigger conditions from the patient population. The system according to claim 36, further operable to perform the following:

38. The system according to claim 37, further comprising an output application, the output application displaying selected trigger conditions from a plurality of trigger conditions based on whether the coefficient of the primary patient falls within a certain percentile of the coefficient distribution of the patient population.

39. The system according to any one of claims 36 to 38, further comprising a display that displays a descriptive label to the primary patient correlated with the overall risk factors of the primary patient.

40. The system according to any one of claims 36 to 39, further comprising a mobile device connected to the data analysis module.

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