Passive Nocturnal Physiologic Monitoring Enables Early Detection of Exacerbations in Children with Asthma. A Proof-of-Concept Study

Rationale: Asthma management depends on prompt identification of symptoms, which challenges both patients and providers. In asthma, a misapprehension of health between exacerbations can compromise compliance. Thus, there is a need for a tool that permits objective longitudinal monitoring without increasing the burden of patient compliance.Objectives: We sought to determine whether changes in nocturnal physiology are associated with asthma symptoms in pediatric patients.Methods: Using a contactless bed sensor, nocturnal heart rate (HR), respiratory rate, relative stroke volume, and movement in children with asthma 5–18 years of age (n = 16) were recorded. Asthma symptoms and asthma control test (ACT) score were reported every 2 weeks. Random forest model was used to identify physiologic parameters associated with asthma symptoms. Elastic net regression was used to identify variables associated with ACT score.Measurements and Main Results: The model on the full cohort performed with sensitivity of 47.2%, sp...