French digital health firm Withings has unveiled its latest sleep-tracking device - a mat which can be used to detect sleep apnea.

When placed underneath a mattress, Sleep Analyzer uses its advanced sensors to analyse sleep and snoring episodes.  

It utilises a pneumatic sensor to measure respiratory rate, body movement and continuous heart rate in order to track users’ sleep cycles (deep, light, and REM) and cycle durations, as well as overall sleep duration.

The technology also uses a sound sensor to detect snoring. Users can check the number of snoring episodes they experienced and their durations in the accompanying Health Mate app. Results can then be shared with physicians and sleep specialists.

Sleep Analyzer launched in the EU and UK this week, after receiving CE marking for medical devices. It has been crafted in conjunction with sleep experts and clinically validated to provide medical-grade analysis and sleep apnea detection. 

WHY IT MATTERS

There are around one billion people who suffer from sleep apnea ranging from mild to severe in terms of severity. This can lead to health issues including high blood pressure, heart problems, Type 2 diabetes and daytime fatigue. However, many people are unaware they even have the condition.

An abstract released in 2018 by ResMed, reported that around 175 million Europeans have obstructive sleep apnea, characterised by repeated episodes of complete or partial obstructions of the upper airway during sleep and often associated with a reduction in blood oxygen saturation.

The validation for Sleep Analyzer’s sleep apnea detection capability came through a clinical study of 118 patients at Hôpital Antoine Béclère in France and Hôpital St-Pierre in Belgium, which compared it to a Polysomnography (PSG) analysis and found it had a similar level of accuracy.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Earlier this year, Withings unveiled its latest wearable, ScanWatch, which includes ECG and Sp02 sensors. The smartwatch also monitors sleep patterns and quality of sleep. It is currently awaiting FDA clearance for the ECG feature.       

Competitor Fitbit unveiled Sp02 tracking via a software update earlier this year and leaked code for Apple’s next firmware update iOS14, suggests that sleep tracking will be included.  

Meanwhile, Israeli app makers Sleeprate, recently announced a collaboration with wearables manufacturer Garmin Health, which allows the firm to access sleep and activity data from Garmin’s devices.

ON THE RECORD

Mathieu Letombe, CEO of Withings, said: “We created Sleep Analyzer to help with this global issue by providing people with an easy, unobtrusive way to monitor their sleep habits and have a medical grade detection of sleep apnea. When users wake in the morning, they can see how they slept the night before and if they suffered from any sleep apnea episodes.”