COPD study shows: Using the Kaia Health app, positive effects of inpatient rehabilitation are maintained longer

New York, April 26, 2022 –  In a study including patients with COPD, a chronic respiratory disease, physicians from Zurich Rehabilitation Centers and the University of Marburg examined how the use of Kaia Health affects physical activity after inpatient treatment. As a result, researchers found that with Kaia Health, improvements from inpatient rehabilitation were maintained over the entire study period of six months – compared to the control group. The study by Prof. Dr. A. Rembert Koczulla, Dr. Marc Spielmans et al. is the first scientific study that deals with the effects of digital therapeutics on pulmonary rehabilitation.

The Kaia Health COPD app provides key elements of pulmonary rehabilitation in digital form: an individual training program with movement units, breathing and relaxation exercises, as well as tips and information about the disease, guided by digital motion analysis. It can be used on its own as a digital therapeutic, or after inpatient therapy.

In the randomized controlled study, patients with COPD were observed over a period of six months after the end of their inpatient rehabilitation. The participants were randomly assigned to either the Kaia Health COPD app or conventional follow-up treatment. The research focus of the study was to measure physical activity – a crucial factor in rehabilitation. For this purpose, the steps taken by the participants each day were recorded by an activity tracker and then evaluated by the authors of the study.

“The results show significantly higher physical activity over a period of six months by using the Kaia Health COPD app compared to the control group. The Kaia Health COPD app has been proven to be an innovative way of positively influencing the health status of COPD patients over a longer period of time. Our next goal is to demonstrate the effectiveness in patients with COPD without previous treatment in rehabilitation as part of an ongoing follow-up study,” explains Stephan Huber, one of the co-authors of the study and Chief Medical Officer Europe at Kaia Health.

Improving symptoms with the Kaia Health COPD app

In addition to these findings, another figure particularly stands out from the study results: the CAT score. CAT stands for COPD Assessment Test (an assessment survey for COPD patients). Here, patients rate their symptoms – such as coughing, congestion or tightness in the chest – on a scale of 0-5.¹ As part of the study on the effectiveness of the Kaia Health COPD app, the evaluation of study participants’ CAT survey shows that the use of Kaia Health significantly reduces the general severity of symptoms. “Of course, we were very pleased with these positive study results, but were not surprised,” says Prof. Koczulla, consultant pulmonologist at Kaia Health and co-author of the study. “With Kaia Health, the success of the inpatient rehabilitation over six months was maintained to the greatest extent during the study. Even slight improvements with symptoms can be achieved.”

When using Kaia Health, patients with COPD are no longer on their own after inpatient rehabilitation. This is particularly important because many of the millions of people affected by COPD in the United States find it difficult to return to everyday life after returning from rehabilitation and implement everything they have learned independently in four to six weeks of seminars and therapy.² With Kaia Health’s COPD app they have a reliable, digital companion at their side.

“Kaia Health was founded around a steadfast commitment to democratize healthcare for all,” says Kaia Health President, Nigel Ohrenstein. “Building off the demonstrable success of our digital MSK solution, we are excited about the potential the Kaia Health COPD app can bring to the U.S., which adds another layer of support to our mission to make clinically validated, cost effective digital therapies accessible anytime, anywhere and for anyone.”

Media contact:

Jessy Green
jessy.green@svmpr.com
(917) 689-9295

About Kaia Health

Kaia Health is a digital therapeutics company that creates accessible, evidence-based treatments for a range of conditions, including MSK pain and COPD. Kaia Health covers 60 million lives globally, and its clinically proven motion analysis capability is transforming and democratizing healthcare through technology that patients can access anytime, anywhere, with the camera of their smartphone or tablet. Kaia Health is the most clinically validated digital MSK provider, and its motion analysis technology is as accurate as physical therapists in suggesting exercise corrections, resulting in equitable care regardless of BMI, age, gender, or location. Kaia Health is a member of the Digital Therapeutics Alliance (DTA) and has offices in New York and Munich. Learn more at www.kaiahealth.com.

Footnotes:

[1] www.catestonline.org

[2] Spruit MA, Singh SJ, Garvey C, et al. An Official American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society Statement: Key Concepts and Advances in Pulmonary Rehabilitation.  https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1164/rccm.201309-1634ST