Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41800165›Full record

ArticleDigital health

A low-cost artificial intelligence powered breath analyzer for early chronic obstructive pulmonary disease detection in resource-limited environment.

Evans Kumi, Tendai T Machaya, Justice K Appati, David E Adjepon-Yamoah

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Evans KumiDepartment of Computer Science and Information Systems, Ashesi University, Berekuso, Ghana.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4720-0443
Tendai T MachayaDepartment of Computer Science and Information Systems, Ashesi University, Berekuso, Ghana.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2837-9944
Justice K AppatiDepartment of Computer Science, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2798-4524
David E Adjepon-YamoahDepartment of Computer Science and Information Systems, Ashesi University, Berekuso, Ghana.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9680-3646

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Objective: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) remains widely underdiagnosed in low- and middle-income countries due to reliance on costly, infrastructure-heavy diagnostic methods such as spirometry and radiographic imaging. This study aimed to design and validate a low-cost, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Breath-Based Diagnostic (BBD) system for real-time COPD detection using exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Methods: The BBD system integrates an array of metal oxide semiconductor sensors with a lightweight one-dimensional convolutional neural network deployed on a Raspberry Pi 5 for edge-based inference. Diagnostic performance was evaluated using a publicly available VOC dataset and a custom dataset collected under controlled conditions with the prototype device. Data augmentation strategies simulated sensor drift and environmental variability to improve model robustness. System performance was assessed in terms of accuracy, precision, latency, power efficiency, cost trade-offs, and usability. A multilingual mobile interface and Retrieval-Augmented Generation chatbot were developed to support patient engagement, while adherence to HIPAA and FHIR standards ensured regulatory compliance. Results: The proposed system achieved 96.68% accuracy and 100% precision for COPD detection, with inference latency of 0.02 ms and power consumption below 2.5 W. A five-sensor configuration preserved 98% of diagnostic performance while reducing hardware cost by 30%. Usability testing with 31 participants yielded a System Usability Score of 86.3/100 and a chatbot trust rating of 4.4/5, confirming strong user acceptance. Conclusion: The study demonstrates the feasibility of deploying an explainable, low-cost, and energy-efficient BBD system for early COPD detection in resource-limited settings. By combining edge AI, affordable sensor arrays, and multilingual patient engagement, the BBD system offers a scalable and ethically grounded pathway for integration into national healthcare infrastructures and global respiratory health strategies.

Indexed as

Breath analyzerdiagnosticnational healthpulmonary diseaseresource limited

Identifiers

PMID41800165
PMCPMC12961126

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.