researchers of the Northwestern Medicine University (United States) developed an intelligent device, which is worn around the neck, and which could help you quit smokingas described by that medical center, based in the city of Chicago, Illinois, it was reported this Sunday.
The necklace, called “Smoke-Mon” (Smoker, in Spanish), fully maintains the privacy of those who practice the habit “since it tracks heat, but not images, which represents a critical factor for people to feel comfortable wearing it,” reported the Europa Press agency. .
“This goes far beyond the number of cigarettes a person smokes each day. You can detect when the cigarette is lit, when the person puts it in their mouth and takes a puff, how much they inhale, and how long the cigarette is in the mouth. mouth,” said Professor Nabil Alshurafaassociate physician in the specialty of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University.
“This ‘Smoker’s Topography’ is important for two reasons: first, it allows scientists to measure and assess harmful exposure to carbon monoxide, and gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between chemical exposure and tobacco-related diseasesuch as cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung disease, diabetes, COPD, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis,” the researchers report.
“The second aspect is to help people in their efforts to quit smoking by understanding how this ‘Topography of Smoking’ relates to relapses (return to smoking regularly), which frequently occurs in those who quit smoking”, expands the scientific work in detail.
The information can be used to predict when a person is going to relapse and when to intervene with a phone call from a health advisorfor example, or even with a text or video message to help prevent relapse.
The scientists plan to study the device’s effectiveness in detecting puffs from e-cigarettes.
The device enables the measurement and evaluation of harmful exposure to carbon monoxide, and a deeper understanding of the relationship between chemical exposure and tobacco-related diseases.
“We want to intervene before they drop completely. Once they do, it’s hard to quit again. For many people trying to quit, a slip is one or two cigarettes, short of returning to regular smoking,” he adds. the medical trial.
“A person can learn from slip-ups and realize that they have not failed, they have just had a temporary setback. To avoid a relapse, we can start to focus on how to manage triggers and cope with cravings“, developed the principal investigator, Nabil Alshurafa, whose work was published in the American scientific journal “Proceedings of the Interactive Technologies”.
For the study, they recruited 19 volunteers who participated in 115 sessions in which scientists examined controlled and free smoking behaviors.
Three discussion groups were organized, with 18 tobacco specialists to find out and evaluate their opinion on the device, which consists of thermal sensors.
Existing devices must be connected to the cigarette, which changes the way a person smokes and makes the data less reliable. Some researchers have studied non-intrusive ways to measure smoking, such as the use of inertial measurement unit sensors in smart watches.
However, these methods are often mistaken for non-smokers’ hand-to-mouth gestures, and generate many false positives.
Another option, portable video cameras, raise privacy concerns, which limit camera-based applicability in natural settings.
preventable disability and death and more than eight million deaths are attributed to it in the world each year, added Europa Press.
