Introducing the Virtual clinic and remote monitoring in children with Cystic Fibrosis

Purpose and goal

The project has contributed to introducing self-monitoring and virtual visits to children living with a chronic disease in Sweden by using an IoT solution. Self-monitoring and virtual visits are now part of the clinical everyday life of children and adults living with the chronic disease cystic fibrosis.

Expected results and effects

At the start of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, children aged 617 with the disease cystic fibrosis throughout Sweden were offered to participate in testing an IoT solution and virtual visits. A total of 60 children with cystic fibrosis and their guardians participated in the study, and more or less all of them were positive about continuing to use IoT solutions after the study ended. Combining virtual and physical visits was just as good regarding CF disease progression as offering only physical visits. Today, the IoT solution and virtual visits are part of daily clinical cystic care.

Planned approach and implementation

Parts of the project were carried out in study form, where all pediatric cystic fibrosis centers were offered to participate in the study during the covid-19 pandemic. Data from the study were analyzed by a statistician with the primary aim of showing that a combination of virtual and physical visits is as good as physical visits alone in terms of CF disease progression.