Piloting Smart Home Sensors to Detect Overnight Respiratory and Withdrawal Symptoms in Adults Prescribed Opioids.
Marian Wilson, Roschelle Fritz, Myles Finlay and 1 others
PMID 36175277WHAT IT FOUND
In four adults on methadone, room motion sensors matched sleep and wake states in 89.4% of 30-second sleep periods, but missed 116 of 118 apnea episodes and could not track leg movements.
Key findings
01Ambient sensors agreed with sleep lab polysomnography on sleep versus wake states for 89.4% of epochs, with 100% agreement for wake times.
02The sensors failed to detect most apnea episodes: they were not activated in 116 of 118 episodes, giving 1.7% agreement, and could not validly detect periodic leg movements.
03Feasibility was limited: sensors captured 48 of 64 potential hours, or 75%, after one participant dropped out before the second night and equipment failure lost eight hours.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only four participants were studied, so the results cannot show how the sensors would perform in a larger or more diverse group. The sensor sub-study was approved after four parent-study participants had already completed their sleep lab visits, so recruitment was limited to those four people. One participant dropped out before the second night, and equipment failure lost eight hours, so sensors captured 48 of 64 possible hours. The sensors were placed in a sleep lab room, not in participants' homes. Pain and withdrawal were measured before and after sleep opportunities, not during the night, so the authors could not confirm that overnight symptoms caused the fitful sleep. The ambient sensors could not validly detect periodic leg movements and missed most apnea episodes.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest. The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural and non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that ambient motion sensors can safely monitor overnight breathing in patients on methadone. In this pilot they failed to detect 116 of 118 apnea episodes, and the study included only four participants, so it does not show that ambient sensors can replace respiratory monitoring.