Project Breathe app for remote health monitoring
Project Breathe is a remote health monitoring study that is part of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust’s research programme on digital health. A core part of the research study is the development of a smartphone app to collect and monitor health measurements.
In light of the coronavirus (COVD-19) pandemic, the developers have adapted the app and made it available on app stores so it can be used by anyone with cystic fibrosis (CF) to monitor their health remotely, rather than only the study participants. This will make it easier for people with CF to manage their health while face-to-face appointments are on hold.
This page explains where to get the app and how it can be used. Find out more about how the Project Breathe research is adapting and accelerating to manage COVID-19.
If you choose to download and use this app, you are not participating in a research study. All data is held within the app, on your phone. It is not shared with anyone else without your consent.
Downloading the app
The app, called ‘Project Breathe’, is available on the Apple App Store and on Google Play Store to download for free.
What data can I add?
The app is designed to collect the following measures of general fitness and wellbeing, and show you trends in your health over time:
- Self-reported wellness and cough scores
- Temperature, weight and lung function*
- Resting heart rate, activity and sleep**
- Blood oxygen saturation***
*You can either add these manually, or if you have a Vitalograph BT Lung monitor, the app can connect to it and use the Bluetooth functionality to capture spirometry.
**This data currently comes directly from Fitbit. If you already have a Fitbit that supports these measures, you can connect to it to Project Breathe app in the app’s settings. Future development will also offer users the option to connect to Apple Health. Apple Health enables the app to access data from a wider range of activity monitors, oximeters and spirometers. Apple Health is only available on iPhones.
***This data can only be added in using the Nonin3230 Bluetooth Oximeter.
The Project breathe team have made this app free for people with CF to use. It has been developed by the social enterprise Magic Bullet. The extensive development required to make the app has been funded through research grants, and Magic Bullet will not profit from the wider use of it.
With your consent, Magic Bullet can arrange for your CF centre to see your data and help in managing your CF while at home. The CF team will be charged set up costs to do this, charged at a minimal ‘at-cost’ basis to allow Magic Bullet to recover the additional costs. The CF centre will need to contact Magic Bullet directly to understand more about the ’Clinician Dashboard’.
Magic Bullet have also set up a Facebook page for users to share ideas and problem solve: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProjectBreatheCF/
The Cystic Fibrosis Trust do not own this app, and all information on this page is advisory.
Research we fund
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What is CF?
Cystic fibrosis, or CF, affects the lungs, digestive system and other organs, and there are over 10,600 people living with it in the UK.
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