Changes in people's voices recorded on a smartphone can signal a serious flare up in symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a pilot study presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress in Vienna, Austria. COPD, which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis , is a serious and long-term lung condition. According to the World Health Organization, COPD is the third leading cause of death worldwide.
A flare-up in symptoms, such as difficulty breathing and coughing, is known as an exacerbation. During an exacerbation, patients may need extra treatment or hospitalization, and their risk of dying increases. However, if treatment can be given at a very early stage, these risks are far lower.
The study was presented by Ms. Loes van Bemmel, a researcher in the department of respiratory medicine at Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands. She said, "After an exacerbation, patients report a lower quality of life, their lung function can decline, and patients are at an increased and prolonged risk for cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke.
It's vital to detect exacerbations as early as possible so appropriate treatment can be given. Unfortunately, it has proved difficult to detect exacerbations at their onset, since symptoms usually start when patients are at home. "Patients and their families have told us that there are voice changes before and during exacerbations.
We wanted to see if we could record patients.