The management of paediatric patients has undergone an important qualitative leap in recent years, with an increasing personalisation of treatments and a continuous improvement of the patient's experience during hospital admission. At the same time, technological progress has led to an increase in home hospitalisation, both in recovery processes and in cases of acute illnesses requiring medical attention.

According to the WHO, 99% of the world's population is exposed to potentially harmful levels of pollution. And while it is usually associated with outdoor spaces, indoor spaces - where we spend 90 % of our time - can be up to five times more polluted. Construction materials, poor ventilation and bad daily habits turn the home into an environment that can negatively affect physical and mental health, especially in vulnerable patients such as children.

Thisis the context for AYRA, an industrial research initiative promoted by the consortium of the same name, in which the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, CATALONIA.HEALTH, la Fundació BCD, Domestic Data Streamers, PUMBA i TheLeftBit, seek to develop and validate a comprehensive system specifically designed to monitor the quality of the environment in home environments with paediatric patients. The project is part of the SJD at home programme and is aligned with the Paediatric Environmental Health Unit of the Hospital.

AYRA is structured in two complementary phases. In the first phase, already underway, a comprehensive environmental monitoring system and a digital platform have been created to help health professionals make more informed decisions about the environment in which children recover. The second phase, planned for 2025-2026 and focused on families, will include a specific digital tool that will enable them to better understand the environmental quality of their homes and how this can influence the health of their children.

The project combines advanced technology such as the use of machine learning to interpret environmental data with a focus on paediatric wellbeing. Through personalised recommendations, AYRA not only improves patient recovery, but also seeks to promote integrative design and business innovation in the health sector, aligning itself with cutting-edge hospital strategies.

Preliminary results of the study

After analysing the air quality in 12 homes of patients at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona, it has been shown that, in most cases, it could be potentially harmful to health at different levels and over different periods of time.

One of the most important factors was the relative humidity, which in most of the flats analysed exceeded the recommended limit of 40-60%. Moreover, in some cases, levels of 80% were reached for almost the whole day, with the consequent risk of damp and fumes forming. In ground-floor dwellings, the average humidity was 65%, while on the upper floors it dropped to 55%.

All the homes exceeded the recommended levels of suspended solid and liquid particles (dust, pollen or emissions from vehicle combustion) at some point during the day, and the most common result was that this exposure lasted for at least a quarter of the day. The data also show a correlation between poor ventilation and the accumulation of pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO) and suspended particles, which reinforces the importance of intervening in the home environment as part of the clinical approach.

"This  study offers a valuable opportunity to better understand how the home  environment influences children's health. Thanks to AYRA, we can monitor and  improve the quality of the air in the home, better understanding its role in  the onset and recovery from certain pathologies. This is an important step  towards more preventive and personalised paediatric care," says Dr Elena Codina, a paediatrician at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona.

AYRA is funded by the 2024 AEI (Innovative Business Grouping) of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, and was the third best-valued project of the 313 submitted.

Photo: Elena Codina (left), paediatrician at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, and Ane Achotegui, nurse at the same centre, reviewing the data recorded at a patient's home.