Citation: Alharbi, E.; Cherif, A.;
Nadeem, F. Adaptive Smart eHealth
Framework for Personalized Asthma
Attack Prediction and Safe Route
Recommendation. Smart Cities 2023,
6, 2910–2931. https://doi.org/
10.3390/smartcities6050130
Academic Editors: Phivos Mylonas,
Katia Lida Kermanidis and Manolis
Maragoudakis
Received: 1 September 2023
Revised: 16 October 2023
Accepted: 18 October 2023
Published: 20 October 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).
smart cities
Article
Adaptive Smart eHealth Framework for Personalized Asthma
Attack Prediction and Safe Route Recommendation
Eman Alharbi
1,2,3,
* , Asma Cherif
3,4
and Farrukh Nadeem
1
1
Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology,
King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; fabdullatif@kau.edu.sa
2
Department of Information System, College of Computers and Information Systems,
Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia
3
Center of Excellence in Smart Environment Research, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia;
acherif@kau.edu.sa
4
Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, King Abdulaziz
University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
* Correspondence: ealharbi0125@stu.kau.edu.sa
Abstract: Recently, there has been growing interest in using smart eHealth systems to manage asthma.
However, limitations still exist in providing smart services and accurate predictions tailored to
individual patients’ needs. This study aims to develop an adaptive ubiquitous computing framework
that leverages different bio-signals and spatial data to provide personalized asthma attack prediction
and safe route recommendations. We proposed a smart eHealth framework consisting of multiple
layers that employ telemonitoring application, environmental sensors, and advanced machine-
learning algorithms to deliver smart services to the user. The proposed smart eHealth system predicts
asthma attacks and uses spatial data to provide a safe route that drives the patient away from any
asthma trigger. Additionally, the framework incorporates an adaptation layer that continuously
updates the system based on real-time environmental data and daily bio-signals reported by the user.
The developed telemonitoring application collected a dataset containing 665 records used to train the
prediction models. The testing result demonstrates a remarkable 98% accuracy in predicting asthma
attacks with a recall of 96%. The eHealth system was tested online by ten asthma patients, and its
accuracy achieved 94% of accuracy and a recall of 95.2% in generating safe routes for asthma patients,
ensuring a safer and asthma-trigger-free experience. The test shows that 89% of patients were satisfied
with the safer recommended route than their usual one. This research contributes to enhancing the
capabilities of smart healthcare systems in managing asthma and improving patient outcomes. The
adaptive feature of the proposed eHealth system ensures that the predictions and recommendations
remain relevant and personalized to the current conditions and needs of the individual.
Keywords: smart healthcare; asthma attack; user context; route context; safe route; air quality index;
heatmap visualization
1. Introduction
The healthcare industry has undergone significant changes in recent years due to
the substantial increase in intelligent services. Electronic healthcare systems (eHealth)
represent the promising future for healthcare by offering new and innovative ways to
employ technology to enhance healthcare [1]. The aim is to improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of the healthcare industry while providing better, more value-added, and cost-
effective healthcare services to patients.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, research has recently focused on automating
healthcare systems, particularly for allergy and immunology diseases. Such systems enable
patients to receive care from the comfort of their homes. Several intelligent healthcare
Smart Cities 2023, 6, 2910–2931. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities6050130 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/smartcities