Brisbane-based digital health company, ResApp Health has announced the launch of SleepCheck, a mobile medical device software application that analyses a user’s breathing and snoring sounds during sleep and provides an assessment of their risk of sleep apnoea.

The app uses the smartphone’s built-in microphone to record the user’s breathing and snoring sounds while they sleep. SleepCheck’s clinically validated algorithms analyse these sounds to provide an accurate assessment of the user’s risk of sleep apnoea, and based on this personalised assessment, the user is provided with recommended next steps to take.

The app is now available to download on iPhones in Australia and the United Kingdom. Availability in additional countries and an Android version will follow based on regulatory approvals and translations. 

WHY IT MATTERS

Sleep apnoea is a medical condition that is often associated with loud snoring and affects more than three in every ten men and nearly two in every ten women.

Sleep apnoea is when air stops flowing to your lungs for ten seconds or longer during sleep creating an ‘apnoea’ event. In severe cases, this can happen more than 30 times per hour. Studies have shown that 80% of people with sleep apnoea are undiagnosed.

Untreated, sleep apnoea causes daytime tiredness, reduced productivity at work and an impaired immune system, and has been linked to serious complications such as heart disease, hypertension, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Earlier this year, MobiHealthNews reported on ResApp announcing that it had raised $5 million to drive forward European commercialisation.

In October 2018, the company also completed an initial integration of its ResAppDx-EU into Australian startup Coviu’s telehealth platform. This integration will allow clinicians using Coviu’s platform to carry out a remote respiratory assessment using ResApp’s clinically validated and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved diagnostic test.

ON THE RECORD

Tony Keating, CEO and managing director said: “We are excited to announce that SleepCheck is now available on the App Store. For the first-time, consumers have direct access to a clinical-grade, regulatory-approved screening tool for sleep apnoea.”

“Over a third of Australian adults do not get the duration or quality of sleep needed, which has major consequences for their health, safety and quality of life. Many adults snore, and loud snoring is an important indicator of sleep apnoea, although it often is ignored. SleepCheck offers an easy way to check if there’s more to your snore.”