Validation of ACCESS: An automated tool to support self-management of COPD exacerbations

Lonneke M. Boer*, Maarten van der Heijden, Nathalie M.E. van Kuijk, Peter J.F. Lucas, Jan H. Vercoulen, Willem J.J. Assendelft, Erik W. Bischoff, Tjard R. Schermer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Background: To support patients with COPD in their self-management of symptom worsening, we developed Adaptive Computerized COPD Exacerbation Self-management Support (ACCESS), an innovative software application that provides automated treatment advice without the interference of a health care professional. Exacerbation detection is based on 12 symptom-related yes-or-no questions and the measurement of peripheral capillary oxygen saturation (SpO 2 ), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV 1 ), and body temperature. Automated treatment advice is based on a decision model built by clinical expert panel opinion and Bayesian network modeling. The current paper describes the validity of ACCESS. Methods: We performed secondary analyses on data from a 3-month prospective observational study in which patients with COPD registered respiratory symptoms daily on diary cards and measured SpO 2 , FEV 1 , and body temperature. We examined the validity of the most important treatment advice of ACCESS, ie, to contact the health care professional, against symptom- and event-based exacerbations. Results: Fifty-four patients completed 2,928 diary cards. One or more of the different pieces of ACCESS advice were provided in 71.7% of all cases. We identified 115 symptom-based exacerbations. Cross-tabulation showed a sensitivity of 97.4% (95% CI 92.0-99.3), specificity of 65.6% (95% CI 63.5-67.6), and positive and negative predictive value of 13.4% (95% CI 11.2-15.9) and 99.8% (95% CI 99.3-99.9), respectively, for ACCESS’ advice to contact a health care professional in case of an exacerbation. Conclusion: In many cases (71.7%), ACCESS gave at least one self-management advice to lower symptom burden, showing that ACCES provides self-management support for both day-to-day symptom variations and exacerbations. High sensitivity shows that if there is an exacerbation, ACCESS will advise patients to contact a health care professional. The high negative predictive value leads us to conclude that when ACCES does not provide the advice to contact a health care professional, the risk of an exacerbation is very low. Thus, ACCESS can safely be used in patients with COPD to support self-management in case of an exacerbation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3255-3267
Number of pages13
JournalInternational journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Volume13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Automated device
  • COPD
  • Diagnostic accuracy
  • Exacerbations
  • Health
  • Mobile health
  • Self-management
  • Software application
  • Telehealth
  • Treatment advice

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