Propeller Health Publishes Results From a Large Public Health Study on Asthma; Successfully Reduces the Burden of Asthma in Louisville

MADISON, Wis., April 2, 2018

The authors found that participants experienced several positive clinical outcomes, including a 78% reduction in rescue inhaler use and a 48% improvement in symptom-free days. The hundreds of thousands of crowdsourced real-world data points on inhaler use, combined with environmental data, also informed municipal policy recommendations, including enhancing tree canopy, tree removal mitigation, zoning for air pollution emission buffers, recommended truck routes, and development of a community asthma notification system.

"AIR Louisville demonstrated the value of crowdsourced health data, influencing positive outcomes from an individual level up to the policy-making level," said Meredith Barrett, VP of Research at Propeller Health and co-author of the paper. "We think the potential for this collaborative approach is huge, and Propeller is committed to using the data we collect across thousands of patients to better understand where, when and why respiratory symptoms happen so that we can help people live healthier lives."

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) funded the successful study, with additional funding from the American Lung Association. "AIR Louisville is the first-in-the-nation-test we've seen of an end-to-end process that started with patients, people, and citizens, generating real-world, real-time data in an effort to identify opportunities to improve the public's health," said Paul Tarini, Senior Program Officer at RWJF. "This is a developing important trend, one we think will make big contributions to how we understand and improve health by focusing on upstream factors in our communities."

The authors noted that participants reported joining the program for two key reasons: to improve their own health; and also to contribute to a larger community effort to combat chronic respiratory disease. This trend suggests that many residents may be open to contributing their data to something bigger.

"Cities exist to provide citizens the opportunity to reach their full human potential — no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, or ZIP code," said Greg Fischer, Mayor of Louisville. "No city can do this alone, which is why we're committed to working with citizens, businesses, and nonprofits to undertake innovative projects like AIR Louisville that can positively impact the lives of citizens. This project is a citywide show of compassion for citizens who live here with asthma, and an example of how citizens can contribute their own data to help inform city decisions, and in so doing reignite their civic engagement."

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