Telemedicine and the internet for remote control in asthma

Asthma is a prevalent disease with a significant morbidity leading to emergency room visits, hospitalizations and absenteeism from work and school. Two major factors contributing to asthma morbidity land mortality) are failure to detect asthma decompensation and use of inappropriate treatment strategies. Asthma severity can be assessed by clinical symptoms and peak flow measurements. There are accepted guidelines for asthma management. However, rapid translation of asthma symptoms into a change in therapy is frequently impeded by the patient's inability to understand self management, reluctance to contact the health care provider, or delays in feedback from the provider to the patient. The objective of this work is to address these issues through telemedicine. Copyright (C) 2000 IFAC.