A recent article published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology looks at how machine learning and artificial intelligence could change the way asthma patients receive care and how researchers use patient data to make new discoveries.

According to the researchers, a patient with asthma endures approximately 2190 hours of experiencing and treating or not treating their asthma symptoms. During 15-minute clinic visits, only a short amount of time is spent understanding and treating what is a complex disease, and only a fraction of the necessary data is captured in the electronic health record.

“Our patients and the pace of data growth are compelling us to incorporate insights from Big Data to inform care,” the researchers posit. “Predictive analytics, using machine learning and artificial intelligence has revolutionized many industries,” including the healthcare industry.

When used effectively, big data, in conjunction with electronic health record data, can transform the patient’s healthcare experience. This is especially important as healthcare continues to embrace both e-health and telehealth practices. The data resulting from these “thoughtful digital health innovations” can result in personalized asthma management, improve timeliness of care, and capture objective measures of treatment response.