Dr Enya Daynes, Clinical Academic Physiotherapist in the NIHR Leicester BRC Respiratory theme, has been awarded a prestigious Asthma + Lung UK Junior Fellowship.
Her project, Developing an algorithm to identify individual breathlessness phenotypes, will explore why people experience breathlessness differently and whether there are distinct presentations of the symptom.
More than 10 million people in the UK live with breathlessness, yet treatment usually follows a one-size-fits-all model. Building on her PhD research which showed that people describe breathlessness in varied ways, from chest tightness to gasping for air, Dr Daynes will use data from more than 700 people with different respiratory conditions. An external dataset from the University of Newcastle, Australia, will also be used to test and validate the new algorithm.
Dr Daynes shared: “I’m really excited about this fellowship, and look forward to building on my previous work. People living with breathlessness often describe very different experiences, and by analysing data from hundreds of patients alongside an international dataset, we aim to identify clear types of breathlessness.
“Understanding these differences is a vital step towards offering personalised treatments that better meet people’s needs and improve their quality of life.”
The study is supported by a patient and public advisory group of more than 20 members, who have helped shape the project from the start and will continue to guide the interpretation and sharing of the findings. This project is part of Asthma and Lung UK’s reusable research scheme that allows for advancements in science whilst considering sustainability.
The one-year fellowship, worth around £70,000, began this summer. The algorithm developed will be made openly available to support future research and clinical practice.