Researchers Create mHealth Technology to Track Sleep Apnea Treatment Progress

Researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine and Northwestern University have developed an mHealth application tool to track individualized patient needs, engagement in continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine use, and the correlation of risk behaviors to determine sleep apnea treatment progress.

According to a press release, sleep apnea affects about 54 million American adults and approximately 1 billion people worldwide. One key method for treating this condition is by using a CPAP machine. However, many patients struggle to remain actively engaged in this form of care.

CPAP machines deliver constant air pressure through the nose or mouth to ensure that the upper airway stays open during sleep. The researchers created an app to track CPAP use, sleep, and other health metrics for patients undergoing treatment for sleep apnea.

The app aims to ensure patients adhere to their specific treatment plan, as patient needs vary. It offers a new adherence metric, that is, the percentage of time a user wears their CPAP relative, to assess the time the patient spent sleeping. This enables treatment to be customized every night.

“Sleep apnea can be effectively treated only when CPAP is used during the entire time spent in bed sleeping,” said Esra Tasali, MD, director of the UChicago Sleep Center and senior author of a paper describing the app's development, in the press release. “We know that sleep patterns can vary considerably, so one-size-fits-all adherence guidelines are insufficient for most patients. By developing a tool for personalized CPAP treatment for sleep apnea, we are providing an opportunity for patients and providers to deliver and track therapy based on individual need.”

The sleep apnea tracking app is a modified version of a weight-loss app that tracks diet, physical activity, and other weight-loss goals. Excess weight is a risk factor for sleep apnea; thus, the investigators modified the app to include metrics like tracking CPAP wear time.

Further, researchers added features to the app, like push notifications to remind users to wear their CPAP before bedtime. 

“Right now, it’s hard for providers to counsel the patient on how to optimally use their CPAP machine, as well as for the patient to grasp how much use is adequate every night,” said Tasali. “So, not only could this app be used as a self-management tool for patients, but also as a more accurate and personalized treatment efficacy monitoring method for healthcare providers.”

The research was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. In the future, the researchers intend to determine how the use of the app compares to standard methods for tracking CPAP use.

Similar to this study, an announcement from Silent Night Therapy in September described a new remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology for sleep apnea.

The technology involves a single sensor attached to the finger that tracks blood oxygen, heart rate, and body movement. All information captured by the sensor can be read through Bluetooth and is logged by an app, which the patient can then download and use to view their progress.