Research project
The World Health Organization WHO estimates that allergy and asthma will affect 50% of the world's population in 2030 if no effective measures are taken. Allergy is defined as a hypersensitivity initiated by the own immune system and can cause lifelong illness. In children, allergic diseases often start with eczema and food hypersensitivity, followed by asthma and hay fever. The development of allergic diseases is called the "atopic march" and is seen to begin already in newborn children. A reduced skin barrier, which in the case of eczema and dry skin can enable allergens to cross the skin barrier and there initiate the body's immune system to subsequently develop an allergy. Our hypothesis is that a reduced skin barrier is the starting point for the atopic march and that it can be prevented with simple protective skin treatment in newborn babies. In PreventADALL (Prevention of Atopic Dermatitis and Allergy in Children) investigates whether the combination of skin treatment and food introduction is an effective prevention against allergic diseases. Furthermore, we examine risk factors and predictors of allergy and health in children during pregnancy, at birth and early life to better understand the atopic march.
Over a million Swedes have asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is usually treated with inhaled drugs. A large proportion use their inhaler in the wrong way, which means that medicine does not reach the lungs, reduced treatment effect and increased morbidity as a result. We have developed an objective digital way to measure inhalation technique that we are testing in healthcare to see if the solution improves patient education and inhalation technique in patients.
Meta-analysis concludes that patient education with a focus on self-care, self-testing and a clear treatment plan improves health and quality of life in asthma patients. To meet recommended asthma care, we have developed the digital self-care system Asthmatuner and founded the company Medituner AB to facilitate implementation in healthcare. The system was CE-marked and approved for healthcare in 2018 based on a randomized controlled pilot study. The study shows that Asthmatuner improves symptoms and adherence by making patients remember to take their medications to a greater extent. With the help of Astmatuner, a large amount of observations consisting of lung function and symptoms are collected that can be quantified and analyzed with validated statistical methods. Our hypothesis is that lung function data in Asthmatuner can be used to develop algorithms that can predict symptoms and attacks, and present written individual action plans that early support patients to prevent ongoing asthma worsening.
Asthmatuner Diagnosis is a time-saving digital solution for the diagnosis of asthma that was developed and CE-marked by our research group together with Occupational and Environmental Medicine in Lund. We are currently carrying out a validation of the solution for the diagnostic tool together with several occupational and environmental medicine clinics in Sweden.
Medical deviations are a problem for healthcare that impairs patient safety. At Astrid Lindgren's Children's Hospital (ALB), highly specialized healthcare is provided for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. Blood sampling is common in pediatric healthcare and places high demands on nurses' technical and nursing skills for the test to be successful. Annually, approx. 60,000 blood samples containing 1.15 million analyzes are taken on ALB, and on average 6.3% were unanalyzable due to pre-analytical errors. The causes clot, hemolysis and insufficient blood volume or other cause that occurred before the sample arrived at the laboratory. The frequency of wrong samples varies greatly between different care departments, from 4.2% to 13.5%, within pediatric care. The aim of the project is to reduce the number of pre-analytical error samples by supporting and training healthcare professionals in blood sampling.