Projects

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease that progresses over several years and results in permanent damage of the lungs. As a result, those affected suffer from severe shortness of breath. With a prevalence of almost six percent, COPD is one of the most common diseases in Germany.

Sudden worsening of the patient’s condition (exacerbations) occur frequently and often lead to hospitalization. The TelementorCOPD project aims to detect these exacerbations at an early stage, initiate appropriate interventions and thus avoid hospitalizations. This is also associated with an increase in the quality of life of COPD patients.

With the help of a special COPD app, participating patients receive a physical and pulmonary training program with a focus on prevention. In addition, vital signs and the results of COPD assessment tests are automatically recorded and transmitted via telemeters. On this basis, the exacerbation risk can be analyzed, which is visualized using a traffic light system. Specially trained COPD nurses who monitor the parameters can then initiate early risk-adapted interventions and contact the patients via video chat or refer them to the treating pulmonologists.

The inav GmbH was assigned with the evaluation of the project. An unblinded randomized controlled trial will determine if the COPD app and the monitoring of vital signs can significantly reduce acute exacerbations in the intervention group compared to the control group.

The project is funded by the Innovation Fund for three years with a ca. 3.76 million euros. If successful, the optimization of outpatient COPD care will lead to an improvement in patients’ health status and increase their quality of life. The care concept can also be transferred to other regions and indications.

Further information: www.telementor-copd.de

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