Sleep apps on smartphones may not provide reliable data, says Sharon M. O’Brien, MPAS, PA-C via Clinical Advisor.
Every few days a patient asks me if sleep apps are reliable. Others bring me data that they have gathered from their smartphone apps and want it interpreted. I have often replied that I wish these apps could be tested against the gold standard, a polysomnogram (PSG), to assess their reliability. Recently, one app called Sleep Time from Azumio, Inc. was evaluated against polysomnography in a small study from the JFK Neuroscience Institute.
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With the accuracy of the information collected and the potential use of that information to make generalizations about how various populations sleep, what is the real value of these apps?