Summary: Apple’s new update for the Apple Watch includes a feature to help detect signs of sleep apnea by using the device’s accelerometer to track breathing disturbances during sleep. This feature provides users with notifications when patterns suggest possible sleep apnea, along with detailed data they can share with healthcare providers for further evaluation. Developed with machine learning and validated through clinical studies, the feature is expected to receive FDA authorization soon.
Key Takeaways:
- Breathing Disturbance Tracking: The Apple Watch uses a new breathing disturbances metric to detect irregular breathing patterns during sleep, helping users identify potential signs of sleep apnea.
- User Notifications and Health Data: The feature provides users with sleep apnea notifications, including a PDF report containing three months of breathing disturbance data, to support informed conversations with healthcare providers.
- Validated by Machine Learning: Apple Watch’s sleep apnea detection feature is powered by machine learning and validated through a clinical study, with FDA approval expected soon.
Apple announced that the Apple Watch now offers a feature to help identify signs of sleep apnea.
To detect sleep apnea, Apple Watch uses the accelerometer to monitor small movements at the wrist that are associated with interruptions in normal respiratory patterns, tracked by a new Apple Watch metric called breathing disturbances.
While some of these disturbances are normal, they are important to track as they can be used to help understand restfulness of sleep and, when occurring frequently over multiple nights, may be associated with sleep apnea. Users can view their nightly breathing disturbances in the Health app, where they are classified as elevated or not elevated and can be viewed over a one-month, six-month, or one-year period.
Analyzing Breathing Disturbance Data
The new sleep apnea algorithm analyzes breathing disturbance data, so Apple Watch can notify a user if the data indicates consistent signs of sleep apnea. The notification will include the time period when potential sleep apnea occurred and educational materials on the importance of seeking treatment, along with a PDF providing three months of breathing disturbance data, notification details, and additional information to reference during a conversation with a healthcare provider.
The sleep apnea notification algorithm was developed using machine learning and a data set of clinical-grade sleep apnea tests, according to a release from Apple. The feature was then validated in a clinical study. In the clinical validation study, every participant identified by the algorithm had at least mild sleep apnea.
The feature is expected to receive marketing authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration and other global health authorities soon. Sleep apnea notifications will be available in more than 150 countries and regions this month, including the United States, the EU, and Japan.
The feature will be supported on Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2. It is intended to detect signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea in people 18 years or older without a diagnosis of sleep apnea.
Assessing Sleep Quality and Restfulness
Because overall quality of sleep is important, breathing disturbances can also be used to assess restfulness of sleep. Breathing disturbances can be influenced by alcohol, medications, sleep position, and more.
“Empowering consumers everywhere to have the ability to reliably identify the presence of abnormal breathing patterns during sleep can help uncover a woefully underdiagnosed and serious medical condition such as sleep apnea,” says Sairam Parthasarathy, MD, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center for Sleep, Circadian, and Neurosciences’ professor and director, in a release. “This is a major step forward in improving public health.”
The sleep apnea notifications and breathing disturbances metric expand the Apple Watch’s existing sleep health capabilities. In addition to monitoring key overnight metrics like heart rate and respiratory rate, the device provides tools to help users track their sleep patterns and work toward improving their sleep quality.
Photo caption: Apple Watch’s new sleep apnea detection feature
Photo credit: Apple
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