Digital respiratory technologies across the lifespan: an overview of opportunities and challenges from children to older adults.

Topic Importance: Digital health technologies (DHT) such as mobile health technologies, wearables, telehealth and telemonitoring are increasingly used in healthcare. This is particularly true for respiratory conditions such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis, interstitial lung disease and COPD as DHTs can support diagnosis, self-management, and ongoing care. However, respiratory conditions change across an individual's lifespan in both their presentation and management priorities for the clinician and patient. This creates new challenges and opportunities for using DHT. Adopting an 'all-of-life' approach is key when considering DHT use within each life stage and across the lifespan.

Review Findings: This review highlights that there are increasing but varying amounts of evidence under each life stage, from infancy through to older adults. Each life stage includes both common and unique considerations for DHT adoption and use. Common considerations include ensuring the involvement of the end user in the co-design of DHT; adapt DHT for the user age group and capability; ensure care is patient-centred not technology-led; and involve family or carers where appropriate for the young and older persons. There remains limited literature considering the health professional view of DHT use across disease agnostic areas.

Summary: DHT are increasingly used in respiratory healthcare, despite varying degrees of evidence to support its use across different life stages. Research on DHT use in the young and older persons should be prioritised. Adopting an 'all-of-life' approach is crucial, as individuals grow and change across the lifespan, so too should the technologies they use.