Respire AQA

The RESPIRE Air Quality-Asthma app is a mobile health application with a high-resolution air quality forecast as an early warning system to support asthma self-management among patients with asthma in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Haze is common in Malaysia and has been associated with increased asthma exacerbations. Existing mobile apps display current indoor/outdoor air quality but none provides the forecast air quality data. This app provides forecast air quality data for the next two days, displayed on a traffic light color gauge meter. The app incorporates alerts for people with asthma and prompts suitable actions based on the forecast air quality.

The air quality forecasting system was built based on ADMS-Urban, which is an atmospheric dispersion modeling system able to calculate high-resolution concentrations of multiple air pollutants. The forecasting service is provided by Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants (United Kingdom) and uses forecasts from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (EU).

This app is developed as a research collaboration project between the University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom), Universiti Malaya (Malaysia), and Universiti Putra Malaysia (Malaysia), funded by NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Respiratory Health (RESPIRE).

It is hoped that this app will help patients with asthma modify their risk of exposure to local sources of poor air quality as asthma triggers and hence reduce the risk of asthma exacerbation.