A. A. Cruz

Pilot study of mobile phone technology in allergic rhinitis in European countries. The MASK-rhinitis study.

The use of Apps running on smartphones and tablets profoundly affects medicine. The MASK‐rhinitis (MACVIA‐ARIA Sentinel NetworK for allergic rhinitis) App (Allergy Diary) assesses allergic rhinitis symptoms, disease control and impact on patients’ lives. It is freely available in 20 countries (iOS and Android platforms).

Work productivity in rhinitis using cell phones: The MASK pilot study.

Allergic rhinitis often impairs social life and performance. The aim of this cross‐sectional study was to use cell phone data to assess the impact on work productivity of uncontrolled rhinitis assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS). A mobile phone app (Allergy Diary, Google Play Store and Apple App Store) collects data from daily visual analogue scales (VAS) for overall allergic symptoms (VAS‐global measured), nasal (VAS‐nasal), ocular (VAS‐ocular) and asthma symptoms (VAS‐asthma) as well as work (VAS‐work). A combined nasal‐ocular score is calculated. The Allergy Diary is available in 21 countries. The app includes the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Allergic Specific Questionnaire (WPAI:AS) in six EU countries. All consecutive users who completed the VAS‐work from 1 June to 31 October 2016 were included in the study. A total of 1136 users filled in 5818 days of VAS‐work. Symptoms of allergic rhinitis were controlled (VAS‐global <20) in approximately 60% of the days. In users with uncontrolled rhinitis, approximately 90% had some work impairment and over 50% had severe work impairment (VAS‐work >50). There was a significant correlation between VAS‐global calculated and VAS‐work (Rho=0.83, P<0.00001, Spearmans rank test). In 144 users, there was a significant correlation between VAS‐work and WPAI:AS (Rho=0.53, P<0.0001). This pilot study provides not only proof‐of‐concept data on the work impairment collected with the app but also data on the app itself, especially the distribution of responses for the VAS. This supports the interpretation that persons with rhinitis report both the presence and the absence of symptoms.

What we should learn from the London Olympics

The London Olympics have just finished. Official reports will soon become available on how many athletes participating in the games had asthma. However, as in the past, prevalence data will often be deducted by the number of athletes using inhaled beta-2 agonists that, according to the new 2012 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules, were on this occasion permitted for all the most commonly used short-acting and long-acting drugs, just following a declaration of use made by the athletes themselves. This self-reporting will largely influence the accuracy of estimates, which will not distinguish between clinical asthma and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) without clinical asthma, as recently requested.

Treatment of allergic rhinitis using mobile technology with real world data: The MASK observational pilot study

Large observational implementation studies are needed to triangulate the findings from randomized control trials as they reflect “real‐world” everyday practice. In a pilot study, we attempted to provide additional and complementary insights on the real‐life treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR) using mobile technology.

Daily allergic multimorbidity in rhinitis using mobile technology: a novel concept of the MASK study.

Multimorbidity in allergic airway diseases is well known, but no data exist about the daily dynamics of symptoms and their impact on work. To better understand this, we aimed to assess the presence and control of daily allergic multimorbidity (asthma, conjunctivitis, rhinitis) and its impact on work productivity using a mobile technology, the Allergy Diary.