myCOtrak: an app which records smoking, nicotine use and exhaled carbon monoxide concentrations concurrently for use in smoking research.

OBJECTIVE

Smoking during pregnancy poses significant health risks, necessitating accurate continuous monitoring of pregnant women's smoking behaviours. Existing methods relying on self-reporting lack objectivity, while biochemical measures like exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) provide validation but suffer from low participant engagement. We developed myCOtrak to address these limitations by integrating real-time CO monitoring with self-reported smoking, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), and e-cigarette use.

RESULTS

myCOtrak combines automated CO data from the Bedfont iCO monitor with daily surveys. It demonstrated high feasibility and usability in initial testing with 23 participants, with 75% continuing data submission for ≥ 14 days. Key features include seamless CO integration, cloud-based storage, and longitudinal tracking, offering a validated, scalable tool for smoking cessation research.