US 12,239,457 B2
Method for monitoring adherence to medication
Garrett Greene, Dublin (IE); Richard Costello, Dublin (IE); Imran Sulaiman, Dublin (IE); Jansen Seheult, Dublin (IE); Frank Doyle, Dublin (IE); and Ronan Conroy, Dublin (IE)
Assigned to ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN IRELAND, Dublin (IE)
Appl. No. 16/477,379
Filed by ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN IRELAND, Dublin (IE)
PCT Filed Jan. 10, 2018, PCT No. PCT/EP2018/050577
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 11, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/130578, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 19, 2018.
Claims priority of application No. 17151063 (EP), filed on Jan. 11, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0022647 A1, Jan. 23, 2020
Int. Cl. A61B 5/00 (2006.01); A61J 7/04 (2006.01); G16H 10/60 (2018.01)
CPC A61B 5/4833 (2013.01) [A61J 7/04 (2013.01); G16H 10/60 (2018.01); A61J 2200/30 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for treatment of a medical condition of a patient, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a computer coupled to a drug delivery system;
delivering a dose of a medication to the patient from the drug delivery system;
the computer reading timing data from a timing device coupled to the drug delivery system, the timing data indicating the delivery timings in respect of each dose of a medication which has been taken by a patient over a time interval;
the computer calculating an estimate of a concentration of the medication in the patient's body over the time interval based on the dose timing data; wherein the concentration, d(t), is estimated by a function:

OG Complex Work Unit Math
where {ts} is the set of dose timing data, α is the decay rate of the medication, p1 and p2 are constant exponents, and δtsδts ∈[0,1], is the technique score associated with each dose of the medication which was taken by the patient over the time interval, wherein the technique score represents an estimate of a proportion of a full dose which was received by the patient based on proficiency data from delivery of the dose of the medication measured by a tracking device of the drug delivery system;
the computer determining the proportion of time over the time interval for which the estimated concentration of the medication in the patient's body exceeds a target concentration, θ, by applying a continuous sigmodal threshold function, σ(t), to the estimated concentration of the medication in the patient's body over the time interval-via the computer wherein the threshold function has the following properties:
σ(t) ∈[0,1];
σ(t)→1 as d(t)→∞;
σ(t) increases monotonically with d(t) in such a way that σ(t)≃1 when d(t)»θ and σ(t)≃0 when d(t)«θ; and
the threshold function contains a parameter β such that as β→∞ the threshold function approaches the step function:

OG Complex Work Unit Math
the computer calculating an adherence score for the patient over the time interval-via the computer, wherein the adherence score represents the proportion of time for which the concentration of the medication is above the target concentration in the patient's body, wherein the adherence score is calculated either by integrating the threshold function over the time interval or by calculating a moving average of the threshold function to obtain a time-varying adherence score; and
the computer estimating a correct dosage of the medication required for the patient to control a disease or a condition including a respiratory disease using a correct inhaler dosage or diabetes using a correct dosage of insulin, based on the adherence score and the drug delivery system delivering the correct dosage of the medication required for the patient to control their medical condition.