Scanning of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome using smartwatch: A comparison of smartwatch and polysomnography.

Background: Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS), which significantly impairs nighttime sleep quality and causes excessive daytime sleepiness, not only reduces the quality of life of patients, but also increases the social and socioeconomic burden. Wearable-noninvasive devices can provide faster OSAS screening and follow-up. Smartwatches as an objective, non-invasive, practical and relatively inexpensive method, they are attractive candidates for pre-evaluation of OSAS and referral to a physician. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a smart watch in detecting OSAS findings compared to the gold standard polysomnograhy (PSG).

Methods: PSG data of the study group were compared with data such as SpO2, heart rate and saturation obtained by smartwatch from both sides, and the Cohen's kappa was used to measure for two methods and predictive values were evaluated.

Results: A total of 115 participants [44 female (38.3%), mean age (SD): 49.24 (11.39)] were enrolled. 75 (65.22%) of the participants were diagnosed with OSAS, of which 29 (25.22%) participants have severe OSAS. The smartwatch showed good sensitivity (75% to 96%), specificity (79% to 91%), and diagnostic accuracy (AUC: 0.84 to 0.93) in predicting apnea and severe apnea, respectively. The highest agreement between PSG and smartwatch and the diagnostic ability of smartwatch were found in persons with severe OSAS.

Conclusion: The high PPV-NPV values in our study and the good compatibility coefficient of the smart watch with the PSG device can contribute to the expansion of the usage areas of smart watches that come into the lives of many people in daily practice.