Smartphone App Offers At-Home Sleep Apnea Detection, Potentially Cutting Wait Times & Improving Access to Diagnosis
PARIS – A new smartphone request developed by the startup Apneal promises to dramatically simplify sleep apnea detection, potentially bypassing lengthy hospital wait times and expanding access to diagnosis for a condition affecting a significant portion of the population. The app utilizes a system for recording sleep variables, mirroring a hospital-based polysomnography, but allows patients to perform the test at home.
Sleep apnea, a disorder characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep, can lead to serious health complications including heart attack, stroke, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes, according to Dr. Justine Frija, a pulmonologist at Bichat – Claude Bernard hospital (AP-HP). Currently,diagnosis requires a traditional polysomnograph – a extensive overnight test typically conducted in a hospital setting. This process can involve significant delays.
“If I hadn’t had the app, I would have had to make my appointment first with the sleep doctor who follows me, so at least a month of waiting.Then, you have to make an appointment to have the official device fitted.Again, it takes an hour to have the device fitted,” explains Laura Thioly, a user of the new application.
Apneal’s technology aims to address the fact that an estimated 80% of those affected by sleep apnea remain undiagnosed. “It’s challenging to do a polysomnography or a ventilatory polygraphy. It’s a heavy equipment. We do that, to detect these 80% and then redirect them to doctors,” says Juliette Millet, an engineer at Apneal.
The device has undergone testing on over 400 individuals, demonstrating a strong ability to identify respiratory events during sleep. Dr. Frija notes the app’s potential to streamline the diagnostic process: “Anyone who does not have sleep apnea saves them from spending the night in the hospital for nothing and can allow them to go see a sleep doctor without urgency to try to understand why they have a sleep complaint.Conversely,someone who is very severe can also set off alarm bells.”
While the application is slated for market release in the coming weeks, the company is currently working to secure reimbursement from health insurance providers. The report was compiled by Norbert Cohen, Merak Movsissian, and Ina Palmer.
