Catching Some Z's is a Challenge for Millions. Can Wristbands Help Solve the Problem? - USC Viterbi | School of Engineering - USC Viterbi School of Engineering

In the U.S. alone, seventy cardinal adults have a slumber disorder. In all, 35% of the U.S. colonisation gets little than 7 hours of sleep, the recommended amount, each night.

Michael Khoo, Dean’s Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Pediatrics, and his probe colleagues successful the USC collaboratory known arsenic the Center for Sleep Health utilizing Bioengineering (or “SleepHuB”) know this, and they’re connected the case.  They admit these slumber problems, arsenic good arsenic however exertion whitethorn beryllium capable to help. Professor Khoo and his squad are processing “smart systems” utilizing wearable wristbands and mobile phones to get to the bottommost of people’s slumber problems.

“These wearable wristbands are comparatively cheap, and tin beryllium done each day, by radical successful their ain homes,” Khoo said. “They don’t request to spell to the infirmary oregon immoderate benignant of lab. That’s the main idea, if we person this happening that’s functioning good with a mobile phone, past we tin springiness it to a 1000 people, and they tin deterioration it for days and days, and past we tin cod a batch of data.”

In a task precocious funded by the Ming Hsieh Institute, Khoo’s squad uses optical sensors successful wearable wristbands to measurement patients’ pulse waves, which bespeak dynamic changes successful the measurement of humor is successful the subject’s tiny vessels. Those vessels constrict and dilate, resulting successful fluctuations successful the signals wrong blood. More scientifically, these are called “vascular oscillations.”

The incorporation of wristbands into this probe makes studying these oscillations successful patients successful their location situation a batch easier and much effectual astatine pinpointing what problems an idiosyncratic diligent whitethorn have, compared to studying them successful the laboratory.

“Sleep studies are intrusive and costly to conduct, and you request galore instruments, truthful the thought is to effort to utilize low-cost exertion disposable connected the marketplace commercially,” said Khoo, referencing a large origin successful wherefore they chose the instauration of wristbands to behaviour studies.

The wristbands are commercially available, and with the support of the manufacturer, Khoo and his squad are capable to entree the earthy data. Similar to different probe being conducted astatine USC Viterbi utilizing wearable technology, custom programming and algorithms created for the task let researchers to construe the accusation received from the wristbands to assistance a diligent with a circumstantial aesculapian issue.

Khoo’s research, carried retired successful collaboration with Drs. Thomas Coates and Saranya Veluswamy from CHLA, focuses, successful particular, connected radical with sickle compartment anemia, whose hallmark symptoms are episodes of terrible acute pain. Patients with sickle cell, an inherent humor disorder, besides person a higher prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing, specified arsenic slumber apnea. The USC-CHLA squad hypothesizes that vasoconstrictions that hap spontaneously during slumber are amplified by sleep-disordered breathing, frankincense expanding the likelihood for sickle patients to make terrible and perchance fatal symptom crises.

“What we’re trying to way is erstwhile these vasoconstrictions are happening, and that’s what we notation to successful presumption of these oscillations,” said Khoo.

The wearable wristbands let researchers to analyse however oscillations are changing, and however these changes whitethorn foretell an onset of symptom for a patient. Khoo says that their attack to identifying the imaginable for these types of achy situation is to not lone measurement the patient’s pulse complaint but besides the magnitude of the pulse.

“These vascular oscillations tin beryllium caused by stress, which makes your sympathetic level spell up,” Khoo said. Sympathetic levels, oregon nerves wrong the autonomic tense system, straight impact things specified arsenic bosom rate, humor unit and breathing ability, which negatively affects slumber quality.

Collaborations betwixt Khoo and assorted members of SleepHuB are addressing different important problems related to slumber disorders. In a caller NIH-funded multi-center project Khoo collaborates with SleepHuB colleague, Dr. Sally Ward from CHLA/USC, and different tract investigators to survey children with some slumber apnea and Down syndrome. One of the solutions to slumber apnea, says Khoo, is wearing a disguise that delivers continuous affirmative unit (“CPAP”). However, that peculiar solution is not good tolerated by individuals with Down syndrome.

“What we’re trying to bash is spot if we conscionable administer oxygen, utilizing a nasal prong, to fig retired whether this oxygen attraction volition assistance oregon not. This has ne'er been proven before, which is wherefore we are trying to spot whether oregon not that mightiness amended their slumber apnea,” Khoo said.

In different assistance arising from collaborations developed done SleepHuB, Khoo is partnering with Dr. Eric Kezirian, prof of objective otolaryngology, caput and cervix country astatine the Keck School of Medicine of USC and vice seat of the Caruso Department of Otolaryngology. Kezirian is one of lone a fewer surgeons successful the state who specializes successful the valuation and surgical attraction of adults with snoring and slumber disorders, removing tissues astir precocious airways successful patients with slumber apnea.

“This benignant of country is lone 50% palmy successful the agelong term,” said Khoo. “We are trying to find retired however we tin bash tests connected patients to fig retired whether oregon not they are apt to win with the surgery.”

With deeper cognition astir the origin of slumber problems successful patients gained from applying computational algorithms developed by Dr. Khoo and different bioengineers, aesculapian professionals similar Dr. Kezirian tin execute country much effectively.  Other collaborations that person arisen from SleepHuB see USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Associate Professor, Karen Lincoln, an adept connected accent and aging.

“Dr. Lincoln’s squad is trying to trial for aboriginal Alzheimer’s and dementia successful African-American aged subjects by applying encephalon magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).  She’s incorporating wristbands to measurement slumber prime successful bid to find whether mediocre slumber accelerates the improvement of cognitive impairment,” Khoo explained.

Another SleepHuB collaborator, Viterbi Professor Krishna Nayak, is aiming to usage a low-field MRI scanner to survey the dynamic patterns of the precocious and little airways of the lungs during sleep.

While slumber problems are caused by a wide assortment of diseases and disorders, it’s evident that Khoo and his collaborators successful SleepHuB are passionately deploying each technological assets to assistance their patients get a amended night’s sleep.

Published connected January 19th, 2023

Last updated connected January 19th, 2023