New Digital Marker Offers Hope for Earlier Childhood Asthma Detection
A team of researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine has taken an important step toward improving how we detect asthma in children—before symptoms become serious. By tapping into electronic health records (EHRs) that doctors already use every day, they’ve developed a new tool that could help diagnose childhood asthma earlier and more accurately, offering new hope for parents and pediatricians alike.
Asthma, one of the most common chronic illnesses in children, can be difficult to diagnose early. Missed or delayed diagnoses can mean missed opportunities to prevent severe symptoms, hospitalizations, or long-term health complications. But a recent study published in eClinicalMedicine shows how technology could change that.
Leading the study is Dr. Arthur Owora, associate professor of pediatrics at IU School of Medicine and research scientist at the Regenstrief Institute. His team improved an existing tool, the Pediatric Asthma Risk Score, by adapting it into a “passive digital marker.” This marker is essentially a data-based signal pulled from a child’s routine health records—no extra steps, no additional testing required.
“Our hope is that using this digital marker in clinical practice will help us detect asthma risk much earlier in high-risk children,” said Dr. Owora. “Early interventions could not only improve asthma control but also reduce the chances of the disease progressing into more severe forms. That benefits everyone—children, parents, physicians, and the health care system.”
The power of this tool lies in its simplicity and scalability. Unlike other screening methods that require additional time and input from clinicians, this approach uses information already entered into a child’s health record. This makes it easy to implement in busy clinics and potentially across large hospital systems.
“This passive digital marker is very scalable because it requires zero additional minutes from the clinical team,” said Dr. Malaz Boustani, one of the study’s co-authors and director of the IU Center for Health Innovation and Implementation Science. “Tools like this can have a massive impact on the health of future generations.”
The study analyzed data from nearly 70,000 children born between 2010 and 2017, using records from the Indiana Network for Patient Care. Researchers found that the digital marker outperformed traditional risk scores in predicting which children would eventually be diagnosed with asthma between the ages of 4 and 11.
While pediatricians are already good at identifying asthma, the new tool gives them an extra edge. By automatically summarizing a child’s medical history, the digital marker helps catch patterns sooner—before symptoms escalate or critical care is needed.
That kind of early detection is key. It allows for timely steps like prescribing asthma controller medications, identifying and avoiding triggers such as allergens, and providing families with the education and tools they need to manage the condition.
What’s next? The research team is preparing to launch a randomized clinical trial to test whether this tool actually speeds up diagnosis and leads to better outcomes for high-risk children. If successful, they plan to expand its use across Indiana—and eventually, nationwide.
Other contributors to the study include Dr. Benjamin Gaston, Bowen Jiang, Yash Shah, and several other IU pediatric researchers. The project received funding from the National Institutes of Health, underscoring the importance of this work in addressing childhood asthma on a national scale.
In a time when technology often feels overwhelming, it’s encouraging to see it used in a way that simplifies care, empowers families, and helps children breathe a little easier.
Adapted from a study published in eClinicalMedicine by researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine and the Regenstrief Institute.
