Grant Boosts Development of Wearable Sleep Apnea Detector

Summary: West Virginia University researchers are refining at-home sleep apnea detection devices, funded by an NSF grant. These devices, worn on the wrist or fingertip, use AI to measure blood oxygen levels and provide early diagnosis. A five-year study showed that early detection and treatment with PAP therapy reduce hospital readmissions and healthcare costs. The devices, resembling a pulse oximeter, offer a convenient alternative to sleep lab tests, particularly benefiting patients in rural areas and improving management of comorbid conditions like heart failure and stroke.

Key Takeaways:

West Virginia University researchers, supported by an NSF grant, are developing at-home sleep apnea detection devices that use AI to measure and analyze oxygen levels in the blood, facilitating early diagnosis and treatment.
Early diagnosis of sleep apnea can help manage comorbid conditions like heart failure and stroke, as evidenced by a five-year study showing that adherence to PAP therapy reduces hospital readmissions and emergency room visits.
Early detection and treatment of sleep apnea not only lower healthcare costs but also improve access to diagnosis and treatment for patients, especially those in rural areas or with limited access to sleep labs.

With support from a National Science Foundation grant, West Virginia University researchers will refine an at-home sleep apnea detection device that can be worn on patients’ fingertips or wrists. The goal is to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Sunil Sharma, MD, N. Leroy Lapp professor and division chief of the Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine Fellowship Program in the West Virginia University School of Medicine, received the award after working with other West Virginia University researchers to develop prototypes and secure a patent.

“It’s about taking technology from the lab to the bedside,” Sharma says in a release. “This grant will help us connect with people who have a high level of expertise and join their strengths with ours. We will work with experts in AI, software production and enhancement, industrial production, and technology and hardware enhancement.”

Prototypes for Home Use

Support from the NSF Innovation Corps program will provide for collaboration among experts from West Virginia University and other institutions.

The prototypes include a watch and a fingertip clip, similar to a pulse oximeter that patients wear while sleeping at home. Both use artificial intelligence technology to measure and analyze data collected via an app on a smartphone or tablet.

“What the devices do is collect information from your bloodstream regarding the certain way the oxygen is delivered and circulated in the blood,” Sharma says in a release. “Based on those oxygen signals and the algorithms which we have fed in—the way we designed it and calibrated it—they can accurately reflect what may be happening in the body without having to go through very expensive testing.”

Sharma points out that results go beyond positive or negative. The technology can also show the severity of the disorder, an indicator of whether patients should be treated with continuous positive airway pressure, CPAP, or simple lifestyle changes.

Addressing Early Diagnosis and Treatment

“A delayed diagnosis can lead to worsening of underlying comorbid conditions such as heart failure, stroke, and atrial fibrillation because OSA acts like a fuel to other diseases,” Sharma says in a release.

The idea for the development of the at-home device follows a five-year study Sharma and colleagues conducted at West Virginia University Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital that focused on screening patients hospitalized for general medical and heart failure conditions to determine whether they should be tested further for OSA.

Those who were diagnosed after additional testing received a PAP—positive airway pressure—therapy and were instructed to use it for a minimum of four hours nightly 70% of the time. Assessing patients over six months, researchers found those who were non-adherent to the PAP therapy as prescribed had significantly higher hospital readmissions and emergency room visits for cardiovascular and pulmonary treatment than those who adhered to therapy.

Reducing Health Care Costs and Improving Accessibility

“The above data complemented by similar findings at other institutions strongly suggest that if we catch OSA earlier, the treatment may facilitate in the control of their comorbid conditions,” Sharma says in a release.

The study, published in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, also examined health care spending and hospital resources. Findings show early detection and treatment resulted in lower costs for patients and health care facilities in both the hospital and ambulatory settings. In addition, with fewer people requiring hospitalization, more beds were available for patients with other conditions.

While reasons the disorder goes undetected vary, Sharma says the lack of availability of sleep physicians and sleep lab testing facilities along with low awareness and associated costs to patients play a role.

“Sleep labs are so booked that sometimes it takes weeks to months to get an appointment. In that amount of time, they’re possibly seeing readmission to the hospital and a significant escalation of their condition,” he says in a release.

At-home testing is also more appealing to patients not wanting to spend the night being monitored in an unfamiliar setting, which Sharma said can affect their sleep quality.

The devices may also be of special benefit to people living in rural areas who may have a great distance to travel to a testing site or who need to rely on family members for transportation.

Raising Awareness for Better Outcomes

Sharma hopes the study raises awareness that early detection of OSA can improve the outcome of patients with comorbid diseases and prevent others from developing more serious conditions.

“We are just learning more and more about this disease, how it drives other conditions, and how patients can be very asymptomatic and yet have the disease still going on in their system,” he says in a release. “We do know we can’t treat it if we can’t detect it.”