Asthma Pocket Tech In The Fighting Ring: AioCare Versus Smart Peak Flow

THIS ARTICLE HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED SINCE 2019. THE INFORMATION SHARED IN THE ARTICLE WAS ACCURATE AT THE TIME OF ITS PUBLICATION, BUT IT MAY BE OUT OF DATE NOW. BROWSE OUR LATEST ARTICLES HERE

What a game, ladies and gentlemen! In the red corner, the Smart Peak Flow and in the blue, the AioCare. Both are promising pocketable devices geared towards helping patients with breathing difficulties. They will be facing each other in The Medical Futurist’s fighting ring, comparing aspects such as their reliability, features, design and price point, but just like in Highlander, only one asthma tech can remain standing. Which one will it be?

Respiratory conditions need to be taken down

The diseases pulmonologists attempt to fight are among the most common conditions in the modern world. According to WHO estimates, 235 million people suffer from asthma, the chronic disease characterized by recurrent attacks of breathlessness and wheezing. About 300,000 people are diagnosed with asthma annually, and nearly 250,000 people die prematurely each year due to the condition.

It was high time that digital health tech companies realized the need for state-of-the-art devices for the diagnostics and management of asthma. Let’s see how the Smart Peak Flow and the AioCare, the two asthma tech gadgets that I’m presenting today, perform and whether they can deliver their promises.

The warmup session

The Smart Peak Flow comes from a startup based in London, founded by a physician, with the aim to help “manage asthma proactively”. It measures peak flow, which essentially indicates how fast you are able to exhale, and based on the score, it can be indicative of asthma. Priced at €49, it can be used by both patients and clinicians anywhere with a compatible phone. No need for waiting times at the doctor’s office or to travel to the nearest pulmonology center. It has even been adopted for clinical research by some universities and companies.

Coming from Poland, we have AioCare. Rather than settling for being a single sensor, this device aims to be the Swiss Army knife for respiratory conditions. Not only does it measure peak flow like Smart Peakflow, but it also comes with a heart rate sensor and a mini spirometer. The AioCare was recently granted the IC Certificate, meeting all safety requirements of ISED (Canada), and is a class IIa medical device (MDD), certified by the notified body, TUV Nord. It costs €199 with further (and pricier) subscription services for patients and doctors, which provide more features.

Now that we’ve introduced the bare-knuckled Smart Peakflow and the Swiss Army knife equipped AioCare, let the battle begin!

Round 1: Cutesy look, killer moves

Right off the bat, the Smart Peak Flow is the obvious winner when it comes to aesthetics. This small, cylindrical, almost cute device plugs in through your phone’s headphone jack (obviously not for you, phone owners without this once-beloved relic) and it is just a plug-and-play affair once you have downloaded the companion app and set up your profile.

If your headphone jack is at the bottom of your device, you will have to enable screen rotation so that the Smart Peak Flow faces up because the device requires light exposure in order to function. This is the only inconvenience that I found while using the gadget, but it can easily be overcome as explained above.

The companion app is also very well designed, allowing you to set reminders to use the device at specific times every day, and it even packs some gamifying twists to take care of your health. For example, it has a comparison chart, your personal best reading, and even achievement badges to keep you motivated. As a gamer myself, I commend this incentive to make a traditionally boring medical check more fun and engaging. More importantly, though, the app allows the user to share the peak flow readings of the last 30 or 90 days via email in either pdf or .csv format. This way, asthmatic patients don’t need to burden themselves with going to their healthcare provider if they are concerned about a recent ambiguous reading or just need a general evaluation.

Round 2: Bulky, but handy

However, if you think that the Smart Peak Flow was full of features, wait until you try the AioCare. This cylindrical-shaped device is quite bulky, so it surely won’t win any design awards. In addition, rather than being pocketable, it is more of a portable device that you can fit in your bag, not in your pocket. But let’s see whether this is a compromise worth it.

AioCare is a device that not only measures your peak flow but it also functions as a small spirometer, checking your lung functions and providing detailed values via its app. It also measures your heart rate through its embedded sensor, akin to the ones you will find on smartwatches. While feature-rich in theory, in practice the AioCare requires some… khmm… practice…

For one, the instructions are not so well-detailed and taking readings will need some practice to get used to. Another issue is that when using the spirometer, the device has to be held horizontally or else measurements won’t be read properly – again, this takes some practice. Lastly, the heart rate sensor is quite picky, not taking measurements if you are pressing too hard with your finger while recording a reading. The Peak Flow measurement is the friendlier of the pair and functions similarly to the Smart Peak Flow.

The AioCare’s companion app also features a diary where you can access all of your measurements and share them. Again a win for remote health monitoring.

Final round: And the winner is…

So who’s delivering the coup de grâce? It’s the Smart Peak Flow! With obvious attention paid to the companion app, design, and affordable price point to make for seamless user experience, this gadget is well worth it for patients and clinicians alike to have a fast and/or remote way to keep track of a patient’s asthma.

However, it ultimately depends on what you need such a device for. Between the two, the Smart Peak Flow is the go-to option for asthma patients, but if you need more detailed readings from a spirometer, then you might need to consider investing in the AioCare.

At The Medical Futurist, we are building a community for making a bold vision about the future of healthcare reality today. If you’d like to support this mission, we invite you to join The Medical Futurist Patreon Community. A community of empowered patients, future-oriented healthcare professionals, concerned health policymakers, sensible health tech developers, and enthusiastic medical students. If there were ever a time to join us, it is now. Every contribution, however big or small, powers our research and sustains our future. Click here to support The Medical Futurist from as little as $3 – it only takes a minute. Thank you.