An expert system approach to cystic fibrosis patient management

The use of health diaries to monitor patients with chronic diseases has often been complicated by difficulties encountered in data quality assurance and interpretation. Conventional data-handling schemes and statistical approaches often cannot handle all the complexities involved. A prototype expert system, MONITOR, has been developed to evaluate the home measurement data obtained from cystic fibrosis (CF) outpatients by approximating the reasoning process of a CF expert clinician. The system was developed initially for patients within the 6-12-year age range. It has been extended successfully to accommodate younger patients with an 87% correct classification record.<>