60% of adults with asthma have uncontrolled disease. Not because treatments don't work—they do. But because we've designed asthma management around 15-minute clinic visits instead of the environments where patients actually live.
A JAMA trial from Apple and Elevance tested whether wearables could change this. 901 adults. Apple Watch plus AI-driven nudges. 12 months of follow-up. The results showed a 2.8-point improvement in asthma control scores—approaching clinical significance. Promising for a scalable intervention.
Interestingly enough, for African American participants, the benefit disappeared completely. Engagement dropped by 2.4x. And the populations bearing the heaviest asthma burden are the same ones our digital tools are failing to reach.
This is a design problem, not a technical one. And the fix is more obvious—and more actionable—than you might think…
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