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Perspectives

Consumer sleep monitors: is there a baby in the bathwater?

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Pages 147-157 | Published online: 05 Nov 2015
 

Abstract

The rapid expansion of consumer sleep devices is outpacing the validation data necessary to assess the potential use of these devices in clinical and research settings. Common sleep monitoring devices utilize a variety of sensors to track movement as well as cardiac and respiratory physiology. The variety of sensors and user-specific factors offer the potential, at least theoretically, for clinically relevant information. We describe the current challenges for interpretation of consumer sleep monitoring data, since the devices are mainly used in non-medical contexts (consumer use) although medically-definable sleep disorders may commonly occur in this setting. A framework for addressing questions of how certain devices might be useful is offered. We suggest that multistage validation efforts are crucially needed, from the level of sensor data and algorithm output, to extrapolations beyond healthy adults and into other populations and real-world environments.

Supplementary material

Table S1 Operational features of common consumer sleep monitors

Disclosure

Matt T Bianchi receives funding from the Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, and the Milton Family Foundation. Matt T Bianchi also has a patent pending on a home sleep monitoring device and has received travel funding from Servier, has consulting agreements with Foramis, MC10, Insomnisolv, and GrandRounds, and has provided expert testimony in sleep medicine. The other authors report no conflict of interest in this work.