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Continuous digital cough monitoring during 6-month pulmonary tuberculosis treatment
openres.ersjournals.comIntroduction The recent advances in digital and wearable technologies with artificial intelligence (AI) enable the use of continuous cough monitoring (CCM) to objectively monitor symptoms as surrogate markers of treatment efficacy in pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). The objectives of this study are to describe the evolution of cough during PTB treatment in adult and to assess the feasibility of community-based CCM.
Methods We prospectively enrolled PTB adult participants upon treatment initiation. Participants’ coughs were continuously monitored during 6 months with a smartphone loaded with an app able to detect cough by using an AI algorithm.
Results Twenty-two participants were included. The median age was 28.5 (IQR: 22–42) and 62% were male. The median cough per hour (medCPH) was 11.0 (IQR: 7.0–27.0) at week 1. By the end of the intensive phase of PTB treatment at week 8, the medCPH was 3.5 (IQR: 1.5–7.0), which was significantly lower than the medCPH at week 1 (p=0.002). At week 26 (end of treatment), the medCPH was 1.0 (IQR: 1.0–2.5). The adherence to CCM was high during the first 13 weeks of PTB treatment and then waned over time. The adherence was similar during daytime and nighttime.
Conclusion Cough counts rapidly drop during the intensive phase of PTB treatment and then slowly decrease to a low baseline level by the end of the treatment. Community-based CCM using digital technology is feasible in low resource settings but requires evaluation of alternative approaches to overcome adherence issues and technical limitations (mobile internet and electricity availability).
Footnotes
This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research . It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Conflict of interest: Hyfe granted free access to the app and server but had no role in the design and the conduct of the study, the interpretation of the results or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
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The original was posted on /r/science by /u/Cough_Geek on 2024-10-17 14:35:30+00:00.
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