Txt care 4 kidz
14 June 2004

Text messaging could be used to give information to children with asthma as part of a strategy to use technology to help reduce asthma attacks.

Health Secretary John Reid has proposed that children with asthma could be sent messages to their mobile phones about air quality, warning them when levels of pollen or pollution were dangerously high.

Kids could also use mobiles to text their GP details of their lung capacity, enabling doctors to take preventative action if these showed a risk of attack.

The possibilities of using mobiles to improve asthma care for young people have already been investigated, with positive results. A study in Scotland showed that texting teens with asthma to remind them to take inhalers was successful in getting them to take their medication.

Another trial in the Thames Valley area linked hi-tech phones to the peak flow meters of 100 people with asthma. Software in the phones prompted the patients to take their peak flow reading, and if this showed any signs of deterioration, details were automatically sent to their GP.

'Asthma UK has been watching the innovative and exciting ways that mobiles have been used in asthma care over the last few years,' said Martin Dockrell, the charity's Assistant Director of Policy & Public Affairs. 'We welcome a government initiative that helps children and young people with asthma to take control of their asthma through self management.

'Avoiding triggers can help to prevent unnecessary asthma attacks and the high pollution warnings would be particularly useful over the summer. Keeping an eye on lung capacity can also help to identify when a child's asthma is not well controlled and a change in medication may be necessary.

'However,' he added, 'asthma is the most common long-term condition in childhood and the government really should be taking a much more systematic approach, addressing the basic rights of children with asthma to targeted and comprehensive healthcare.'