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This work is included in a portfolio of research funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, to make diagnostic testing more accessible by designing simple, affordable tools that can be used in everyday settings. The project, called ACCESS (A Community-based diagnostiC for early airwayS disease), focuses on airway diseases, and will receive £1.3 million over three years.
Chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affect more than half a billion people worldwide and cause over four million deaths every year. In the UK, these conditions hit disadvantaged communities hardest, with people in areas of socioeconomic deprivation facing particular challenges in accessing hospital-based diagnostic care.
Currently, asthma and COPD diagnosis relies on a test called spirometry. This measures how much air a person can forcefully breathe out, but it is difficult for many patients to perform and often fails to detect disease in its earliest stages. By the time spirometry picks up abnormalities, damage to the lungs is usually irreversible, resulting in late diagnoses, missed chances for early treatment, and poorer outcomes.