Real time monitoring of respiratory viral infections in cohort studies using a smartphone app
David G. Hancock,
Elizabeth Kicic-Starcevich,
Thijs Sondag,
Rael Rivers,
Kate McGee,
Yuliya V. Karpievitch,
Nina D’Vaz,
Patricia Agudelo-Romero,
Jose A. Caparros-Martin,
Thomas Iosifidis,
Anthony Kicic,
Stephen M. Stick
Affiliations
David G. Hancock
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Perth Children’s Hospital, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia
Elizabeth Kicic-Starcevich
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia
Thijs Sondag
WeGuide, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Parkville VIC 3052, Australia
Rael Rivers
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia
Kate McGee
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia
Yuliya V. Karpievitch
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia
Nina D’Vaz
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia
Patricia Agudelo-Romero
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; European Virus Bioinformatics Centre, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
Jose A. Caparros-Martin
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia
Thomas Iosifidis
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; School of Population Health, Curtin University, Bentley WA 6102, Australia; Centre for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia
Anthony Kicic
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; School of Population Health, Curtin University, Bentley WA 6102, Australia; Centre for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; Corresponding author
Stephen M. Stick
Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre, Telethon Kids Institute, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Perth Children’s Hospital, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia; Centre for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands WA 6009, Australia
Summary: Cohort studies investigating respiratory disease pathogenesis aim to pair mechanistic investigations with longitudinal virus detection but are limited by the burden of methods tracking illness over time. In this study, we explored the utility of a purpose-built AERIAL TempTracker smartphone app to assess real-time data collection and adherence monitoring and overall burden to participants, while identifying symptomatic respiratory illnesses in two birth cohort studies. We observed strong adherence with daily app usage over the six-month study period, with positive feedback from participant families. A total of 648 symptomatic respiratory illness events were identified with significant variability between individuals in the frequency, duration, and virus detected. Collectively, our data show that a smartphone app provides a reliable method to capture the longitudinal virus data in cohort studies which facilitates the understanding of early life infections in chronic respiratory disease development.
