SDB Smartphone App V1

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Home Monitoring of Paediatric Sleep Disordered Breathing with Unobtrusive Sensors

• IRAS ID

  339617

• Sponsor organisation

  Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 11 months, 25 days

• Research summary

  Paediatric sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) refers to a condition in which a child experiences breathing interruptions during sleep. Symptoms of SDB can vary, ranging from frequent loud snoring to obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). While OSA affects approximately two to four percent of children, its diagnosis is more commonly observed (up to 25 percent) in children with specific conditions such as obesity, sickle cell disease, and Down syndrome. SDB in children can lead to cardiovascular complications, but unlike adults, children are more prone to experiencing behavioural, learning and neurocognitive problems. Early diagnosis is crucial to prevent these potential complications.

  Currently, the “gold standard” method for investigating SDB is an overnight cardio-respiratory sleep study (CRSS), which requires children to sleep in a laboratory setting while wires are attached to their face and body to record diagnostic measurements. This process is uncomfortable for the children, inconvenient for the family, and requires detailed manual analysis by a physiologist which is time-consuming and expensive. Consequently, there is a need for a solution that enables remote, automated diagnosis and monitoring of paediatric SDB in the familiar environment of the child's home.

  The objective of this project is to develop a smartphone-based solution utilising unobtrusive sensors, which offers the prospect of low-cost and remote monitoring in the comfort of the child’s own home. 80 children with SDB will be recorded using both a home CRSS and the smart-phone solution. Signals from the two systems will be compared to evaluate the accuracy of the research method. Information will also be collected from the children and their parents to determine whether they find the smartphone system easy to use. This will help us to establish if the method can be used as a diagnostic tool for use in the home environment.

• REC name

  London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  24/PR/0284

• Date of REC Opinion

  25 Mar 2024

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion