Automated, contact-free, smartphone-enabled cough detection was feasible in COPD patients hospitalized for AECOPD. Cough counts declined over time and were associated with relevant clinical and biochemical markers. Our approach enables telemonitoring of AECOPD in near real-time and warrants further development to possibly establish cough count as an early digital biomarker for emerging AECOPD, allowing swift intervention and associated cost reductions.
Boesch et al. (Tue,) studied this question.