Noninvasive Home Monitor for Sleep Apnea Testing

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Obstructive sleep apnea affects about 3-4% of the population including children. There is considerable associated morbidity and mortality. In particular there is a strong association with hypertension and cardiac disease. Daytime somnolence leads to increased traffic accidents and decreased worker production. The key diagnostic testing for this condition is overnight sleep testing or nocturnal polysomnography. Despite the seriousness of this medical condition about 80% of those afflicted are undiagnosed. This is due, in part, to the expense and lack of availability of standard polysomnography. This has lead to a great deal of interest in the development of portable testing systems that provide economical, readily available and accurate testing for obstructive sleep apnea at home. We propose a single type of sensor based monitoring system that would provide a reliable and simple to use unit that should allow for economical and efficient home testing. Although we propose the use of a single sensor to allow for a simple to use system, we incorporate data analysis methods that will allow for the recovery of four independent metrics for prediction of obstructive sleep apnea. This should allow for a more accurate testing system than current portable systems. Since the proposed system will correct the major problems with portable sleep testing instruments (practical, mechanical and provide multiple metrics for diagnostic accuracy), we anticipate that this project would result in a successful commercial product. This project will result the development of a simple to use, at-home technology for the diagnosis of sleep apnea. This is important since sleep apnea is a common and serious disorder afflicting 3-4% of the population and contributes significantly to heart disease and stroke. Sleep apnea also is implicated in a tremendous cost from work related problems and car accidents. Despite this nearly 90-95% of sleep apnea patients are not diagnosed, in part, due to the expense and difficulty of providing laboratory sleep studies.