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

## TL;DR

myCOtrak is a new app that tracks smoking, nicotine use, and exhaled carbon monoxide in real time to improve smoking research during pregnancy.

## Contribution

myCOtrak introduces a novel integration of real-time CO monitoring with self-reported data for smoking behavior tracking.

## Key findings

- myCOtrak showed high feasibility and usability in initial testing with 23 participants.
- 75% of participants continued data submission for at least 14 days.
- The app offers longitudinal tracking and cloud-based storage for scalable research.

## Abstract

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.

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.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13104-025-07195-2.