FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

Why do I need the DailyBreath Forecast?

You need a health-context weather forecast based on your asthma?

Environmental factors are a determinant of health long neglected in the management of various patient health conditions including asthma.  The fundamental hypothesis behind our approach to offering a DailyBreath Forecast is that the confluence of triggers; weather, allergens, irritants, whether in the form of pollution, pollen, mold, wildfire smoke, etc. contributes at a time and place to a person’s exposure to their immediate environment as it relates to them experiencing symptoms. So, for those who are most impacted by outdoor conditions, instead of just a weather forecast, or an air quality or pollen forecast in isolation, how about a forecast based on personalized environmental insights that have been gathered from your own experience of symptoms to provide you with a personal symptom forecast. 

The DailyBreath Forecast projects a risk index based on the confluence of weather and environmental exposures that increase the relative risk of a patient experiencing symptoms or a flare-up.  You experience the weather, pollution, and pollen uniquely and it’s our goal to inform you of your exposures, help you determine your sensitivity to them, and prepare you to take preventative action to avoid the triggers that often lead to asthma flare-ups. As a learning and warning platform for trigger risk based on real-world evidence, the goal is to provide each user with their own personalized DailyBreath Risk Index every day.

DailyBreath helps you pinpoint the when, where and what of YOUR asthma. On what type of days have I experienced symptoms?  DailyBreath translates this real-world evidence into a symptom forecast that can inform the preventative action steps that you can take to ensure that you avoid potentially preventable asthma attacks. Empowering you to be weather informed and location aware so you can be health prepared! This is a journey in introducing daily environmental insights based on how you experience your environment every day.  You can’t manage your triggers, if you don’t measure them. 

What are the components of this forecast?

We aggregate weather and environmental data dynamically from the Weather.io (weather and air quality) and BreezoMeter (pollen).  We generate a DailyBreath Risk Index that is accompanied by the prevailing factors that impacted the calculation of the index for that day. An impact summary describes in a short narrative why those prevailing factors create a higher level of risk. To accompany these forecast details, we generate a series of daily recommendations that are generated based on the risk index and the impacts.  Our daily recommendations are being reviewed so they reflect evidence-based recommendations. In this way, we are presenting the relevant health context that informs you of how you will be affected by the weather and your environment today so that you can take steps to prevent negative health outcomes.

What is the DailyBreath Risk Index?

The initial DailyBreath Risk Index was developed following evidence-based research to better understand the correlation of weather and environmental factors on allergy and asthma symptoms for patients.  Certain weather variables converge with air quality or pollen to impact allergy and asthma patients, respectively.  The research ascertained approximate exposure thresholds that raised the risk of allergy symptoms or breathing difficulty.  The supporting evidence for the impacts of weather and environmental exposures under Science and Solutions.

The Air Quality Index and the Pollen Count already have rating scales that are indicators of the severity of that exposure measuring particulates or estimating pollen spores in the atmosphere. We certainly want you to be aware of those unique measurements in the context of your condition. We uniquely correlate the relevant AQI to the Air Quality Flag so that parents and children may understand in the context of their local school what pollution conditions they may encounter.

The DailyBreath Risk Index Scale reflects the weather variable thresholds that have been shown (via evidence base) to correlate to a higher incidence of allergy symptoms or asthma attacks.  We calculate a score that estimates relative risk based on the weather variable thresholds reached for any of the following; temperature, humidity, winds, and Outlook variables including cloud cover, precipitation, and barometric pressure.

Risk Index Scale

  • Category 5 – High Risk

  • Category 4 – Above Average Risk

  • Category 3 – Average Risk

  • Category 2 – Below Average Risk

  • Category 1 – Low Risk

The magic of the app is the ability for allergy and asthma sufferers to record their flare-ups.  By leveraging near real-time flare-up tracking and using machine learning we can develop an empirically-derived population-based risk index, and, ultimately a personalized risk index for each patient/consumer based on their individual susceptibility to exposures.

So, what’s a flare-up?

That is a great question and it’s the crux of making DailyBreath valuable to you.  We have little understanding of outdoor triggers; the weather and the environment surrounding an allergy or asthma sufferer.  We really want to understand the conditions that are present when even the earliest onset symptoms are experienced.  If you have allergies, is there a time, place, or conditions when your symptoms worsen even after you’ve taken allergy medicines.  If you have asthma, anytime it is necessary for you to use your quick-relief medication, it’s likely you’ve experienced a flare-up.  But, you may just experience a time when it is harder to breathe or you feel yourself laboring.  If so, it may be the right time and place to record your flare-up.

What happens when I record my flare-up?

DailyBreath collects a time stamp and your geographical location (either via GPS or city, state).  It records the weather and environmental data at that time and for that place.  For your protection, the saved flare-up data which is transmitted does not contain any Personal Identifiable Information (PII), which includes first name, last name, and e-mail address.  Every saved flare-up entry is securely encrypted and transmitted via HTTPS protocol to a database managed by Amazon Web Services.

Why should I record my flare-up?

DailyBreath refines its original DailyBreath Risk Index by applying all flare-up data to machine learning to develop a population-based DailyBreath Risk Index and, ultimately, once sufficient flare-ups for you have been recorded, into a personalized DailyBreath Risk Index that reflects your individual susceptibility to certain weather and environmental conditions. In addition, your flare-ups are shown on your own personal Last 5 Flare-ups Map recording the location of your last 5 Flare-ups so you may know where in your community you experiencing onset symptoms.

What is the DailyBreath Community Flare-Up Map?

The aggregate anonymous database of DailyBreath community user’s data may be used to display loci on geographical maps where symptoms or flare-ups occur.  Allergy symptoms are identified by a green pin, allergic asthma by a purple pin, and asthma by a blue pin. This community flare-up map defines those locations in the community where specific patient populations experience symptoms in relation to exposures. In the future, you’ll be able to set up alerts that notify you when other users’ close to your geographic location are experiencing flare-ups

You must choose to opt-in if you wish to enable the sharing of your flare-up in the DailyBreath Community Flare-Up Map.  If you don’t, you are welcome to continue you using the application, your flare-ups just won’t be available to the community at large.  We’ll still record your flare-ups and make the data available to you for your own personal use on the Last 5 Flare-Ups Map.

Why do I need to register for DailyBreath? Registration is required because it is the only way that we can start to document your symptoms in relation to the weather and environmental conditions to develop the data associated with your Last 5 Flare-Ups and begin to build your personalized DailyBreath Risk Index.

Why do you need my phone number?  The phone number is necessary to implement the chat features available in DailyBreath Friends.  Your phone number will not be shared in any way, and it is not visible to other users.   It just enables a process of searching for and adding friends to build your Friends List or personal caregiver network.

Why should I provide medicine and medication information?  DailyBreath starts a journey in precision medicine.  The reason we ask about your medications is we are trying to develop a rich database of anonymized data that correlates symptoms experience in association with weather and environmental conditions with the medications you may be taking.  We’re documenting how you personally experience symptoms in relation to environmental exposures and if we document your medications, we’ll begin to understand when your medications are most and least effective.  This can inform future treatment planning.

Questions about DailyBreath Plus

How do I purchase DailyBreath Plus? If you click on the heart for Favorites or if you click on the Last 5 Flare-Ups table on the Last 5 Flare-Up Map, you will be prompted with a purchase screen. Similarly if you select Scheduled Notifications in Settings or Automatic Medication Reminders in Profile, you will be prompted with a purchase screen. You may then proceed through the normal app purchase process by clicking on the button, Buy Now!

Why do I need DailyBreath Plus? DailyBreath Plus begins your journey to customize and personalize DailyBreath as your premier allergy and asthma management app.  This initial set of features available as an in-app purchase for a .99 yearly subscription does the following:

-          Disables ads

-          Saves repeat destination (essentially favorite locations) for which you search for the DailyBreath Forecast.

-          Multiple options throughout your day to receive scheduled notifications to check your DailyBreath Forecast, morning, school, lunch, after school, and evening.

-          A Table View of YOUR last 5 flare-ups (accessible via your Last 5 Flare-Ups Map) that helps you detect trends in the prevailing factors associated with your symptoms, and

-          Automatic medication reminders prompting you take your allergy medicines or asthma medications.

What are Favorites?  Favorites refers to locations in your community that you visit frequently and don’t want to repeatedly enter in an address.  You are essentially saving repeat destinations so that you can easily select that location and quickly zoom into that location on the DailyBreath Community Flare-Up map to view symptoms recorded in that area, as well as select the DailyBreath Risk Index to view the DailyBreath Forecast for that location.

Why do I need different options for notifications to check the DailyBreath Forecast? Weather and environmental conditions change throughout the day and it’s important to know the changes represented by these parts of the day.  Certainly, anytime you are headed outdoors, you should check your DailyBreath Forecast, but there are times of the day where you know that you will be outside and want to know ahead of time what conditions you will experience.  They include before school, the morning generally, around lunchtime when students might be out on the playground, after school when students are participating in outdoor activities, and then in the evening.

Why do I need a table view of my Last 5 Flare-Ups?  The purpose of DailyBreath is to provide you with personalized environmental insights.  We already mark where your Last 5 Flare-Ups occurred to give you sense of places where you experience symptoms.  The Last 5 Flare-Up Table provides you with the specific weather and environmental data at the time that you experience symptoms, so that you may learn trends associated with your symptoms.

Why do you want to know the medications I am taking and what are automatic medication reminders?  The reason we ask about your medications is we are trying to develop a rich database of anonymized data that correlates symptoms experience in association with weather and environmental conditions with the medications you may be taking.  In Plus, we are adding an additional function which is the ability for you to set up an automatic medication reminder, just to prompt you at a time of your choosing to take your medication.  This could be an allergy medicine, a recurring shot for a biologic, or your daily controller medication.

Questions about DailyBreath SHOW

How do I purchase DailyBreath SHOW? If you click on fire icon on the bottom left corner of the DailyBreath Community Flare-Up Map, you will be prompted with a purchase screen. You may then proceed through the normal app purchase process by clicking on the button, Buy Now!

What is DailyBreath SHOW?  DailyBreath SHOW, the Smoke Heatmap Overlay for Wildfires, is the only asthma-specific, let alone health-specific, app that tracks wildfire smoke and forecast wildfire smoke dispersion.  It displays, on the DailyBreath Maps:

  • The identified location of impactful wildfires,

  • The weather conditions at the wildfire location including

    • Wind speed and direction,

    • Relative humidity, and

    • Outlook.

  • A default view of the current dispersion of wildfire surface smoke,

  • An option to select to view the current dispersion path of wildfire atmospheric smoke, and

  • -When viewing either, you may select to play an animated time-series of a 5-hour forecast of projected smoke dispersion.

NOTE: The overlay is initially only available only for wildfire activity in the continental US, but in the future will be available around the world.

Why track wildfire smoke? While DailyBreath helps track your symptoms associated with daily weather and environmental conditions, there are incidental episodes that are the resultant impact of extreme weather events.  In the case of wildfire smoke, the particulate matter incrementally increases air pollution, causing an elevated level of risk to vulnerable populations. 

What’s the best way to view the SHOW Map?  The 1st step is to Zoom out until you see wildfires and wildfire smoke represented on the map.  If you click on the wildfire, you will be able to view the name of the fire and specific weather variables that are pertinent to smoke dispersion. You will also be viewing the status of wildfire smoke.  If you click on the play button, it will run an animation of the 5-hour forecast for wildfire smoke.  The current and forecast views educate DailyBreath users of the dynamic nature of wildfire smoke dispersion as impacted by weather, winds, the jet stream, and atmospheric fronts.  It’s this dynamic that poses potential risk for someone hundreds of miles from the wildfire source.

Why does the smoke take a while to load and its choppy? Well, you got us there. As the 1st asthma app tracking wildfire smoke, we’re learning how to optimize load time, develop as smooth a display of wildfire smoke as possible, and learn from our users how they want to view wildfire smoke to understand asthma risk.  Also, in the Android version Google Maps is used and in iOS Apple Maps is used.  We’re working to make sure the feature is optimized in a similar fashion, but the different map applications render the wildfire smoke differently, so it may take some time to optimize it fully.

Why did you choose to do a grey scale for smoke?  I used this approach to tracking wildfire smoke because I wanted to educate the vulnerable that were perhaps many miles from wildfires to understand the risk levels in a manner, they could understand which is the Air Quality Index levels.  This grey scale when applied to the 5-hour forecast clearly shows when higher risk levels (darker) are moving across the country and potentially affecting a user’s area.  This will be even more apparent when we begin to apply plume definition for the wildfire surface and atmospheric smoke and contours for the white to grey to black gradients.

How do I understand the actual air quality within a wildfire smoke plume?  Well, the gradient of the smoke is a good place to start, but with DailyBreath, you can click on any place on the map within the smoke plume and once that location is selected click on the DailyBreath Risk Index # on the Map and you will receive the DailyBreath Forecast with the AQI and PM 2.5 and Ozone information for that specific location.

How will tracking wildfire smoke help me? The key feature within DailyBreath is the ability to record your symptoms.  By recording a flare-up when you experience it, we can track whether you were within a wildfire smoke dispersion path and begin to develop an understanding of your personal sensitivity to wildfire smoke.  This will allow us to configure a personalize Wildfire Smoke risk index over time. We’ll be gathering real world evidence (RWE) in our anonymized databased for understanding under what air quality conditions of wildfire smoke people are experiencing symptoms.