emocha Health and LifeBridge Health Publish Pediatric Asthma Study Demonstrating Rapid Inhaler Improvement
BALTIMORE, September 30, 2021 "” Evaluation of a new pediatric asthma pilot program published in the Journal of Asthma showed that the average frequency of asthma inhaler technique errors among enrolled patients dropped from 80% to less than 20% in four weeks. The study was authored by emocha Health, the nation's leading digital medication adherence program, in partnership with LifeBridge Health, a nonprofit community health system in Maryland. 
In assessing the program's ability to improve patient health outcomes, the study showed inadequate breath-holding was the most common technique error and forgetfulness was the most common adherence issue. Immediate improvement in observed inhaler errors occurred in the first week of the program. Researchers also found that 80% of pediatric asthma patients were using their inhalers every day.
The study, conducted in January and February of 2020 at the start of the pandemic, sought to measure the feasibility of supporting pediatric asthma patients in Baltimore through digital instruction and feedback. The median age of study participants was 11 years and 90% of participating children were covered by Medicaid. Eligible patients were enrolled in the program by LifeBridge Health physicians and were asked to submit daily check-in videos of themselves taking their prescribed inhalers via the emocha Health mobile application. emocha's care team members reviewed these videos and then directly engaged with participants to improve inhaler technique and supported patients and their families/caregivers throughout treatment.
Pediatric asthma is a devastating problem in Baltimore, where 20% of children have an asthma diagnosis -- twice the national average. Additionally, 88% of pediatric asthma-related hospitalizations in Baltimore are of Black children, who are even more disproportionately affected by uncontrolled asthma.
"Improper inhaler technique often leads to poor asthma control and frequent emergency department visits," says principal study investigator Scott Krugman, M.D., vice chair of pediatrics at the Herman & Walter Samuelson Children's Hospital at Sinai, part of the LifeBridge Health system. "Inhaled medications are the cornerstone of asthma management, so we're delighted that in this study we addressed more than 240 video-observed inhaler technique issues for pediatric asthma patients and efficiently improved medication adherence through direct interaction with care team members while utilizing video-enabled Directly Observed Therapy (DOT)."
The study also illustrates how digital tools, like video-enabled DOT and two-way chat, when paired with human engagement, offer cost-effective, scalable, and engaging resources for healthcare providers to help patients manage chronic illness. Not only were emocha care team members and LifeBridge providers able to intervene and remediate poor medication administration, but they were also able to work directly with participants to help build adherence and self-management skills to further improve patient's health.
Participants and their caregivers also generally expressed positive sentiment towards the program. The program had an 81% enrollment rate. The app was considered easy to use, and asynchronous videos were seamlessly i