title: Smart Technology in Lung Disease Clinical Trials.
abstract: This article describes the use of smart technology by investigators and patients to facilitate lung disease clinical trials and make them less costly and more efficient. By "smart technology" we include various electronic media, such as computer databases, the Internet, and mobile devices. We first describe the use of electronic health records for identifying potential subjects and then discuss electronic informed consent. We give several examples of using the Internet and mobile technology in clinical trials. Interventions have been delivered via the World Wide Web or via mobile devices, and both have been used to collect outcome data. We discuss examples of new electronic devices that recently have been introduced to collect health data. While use of smart technology in clinical trials is an exciting development, comparison with similar interventions applied in a conventional manner is still in its infancy. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of using this omnipresent, powerful tool in clinical trials, as well as directions for future research.
authors.affiliation: Office of Biostatistics Research, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Electronic address: gellern@nhlbi.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Nancy L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Geller
authors.affiliation: Office of Biostatistics Research, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Dong-Yun
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Office of Biostatistics Research, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tian
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008171:Lung Diseases; D008490:Medical Informatics; D060145:Text Messaging
keywords: clinical trials; lung disease; mobile health; personal electronic devices; smart technology