System for the Assessment of Sleep Quality in Adults and Children

• US 20100240982A1
• Filed: 03/17/2010
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced Brain Monitoring
• Original Assignee: Advanced Brain Monitoring
• Inventors: Mitrovic, Mirko, Veljkovic, Bratislav, Popovic, Djordje, Berka, Chris, Zavora, Timothy, Davis, Gene, Levendowski, Daniel J., Westbrook, Philip R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,355,769 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/391
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/087 Measuring breath flow
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/398 Electrooculography [EOG], e.g. detecting nystagmus; Electroretinography [ERG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4812 Detecting sleep stages or cycles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4815 Sleep quality
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4818 Sleep apnoea
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6803 Head-worn items, e.g. helmets, masks, headphones or goggles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6814 Head
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6831 Straps, bands or harnesses
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/721 using a separate sensor to detect motion or using motion information derived from signals other than the physiological signal to be measured
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7221 Determining signal validity, reliability or quality A61B5/7207 and A61B5/7217 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor

Abstract

Systems and methods for assessment of sleep quality in adults and children are provided. These techniques include an apparatus worn above the forehead containing the circuitry for collecting and storing physiological signals. The apparatus integrates with a sensor strip and a nasal mask to obtain the physiological signals for the user. The form factor of this apparatus is comfortable, easy to self-apply, and results in less data artifacts than conventional techniques for capturing physiological data for analyzing sleep quality. Neuro-respiratory signals are analyzed using means to extract more accurate definitions of the frequency and severity of sleep discontinuity, sleep disordered breathing and patterns of sleep architecture. Biological biomarkers and questionnaire responses can also be compared to a database of healthy and chronically diseased patients to provide a more accurate differential diagnosis and to help determine the appropriate disease management recommendations.

Claims

1. A system for assessing sleep quality of a user, the system comprising:

a sensor strip comprising at least one sensor configured to detect data indicative of sleep disturbances of a user, the sensor strip being positioned on the user'"'"'s forehead; and

a wearable data acquisition unit coupled to the sensor strip;

the data acquisition unit being configured to receive and collect data from the sensors in the sensor strip.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the sensor strip also includes at least one sensor for detecting data indicative of a sleep state of the user.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a nasal pneumotachometer coupled to the data acquisition unit to provide the data acquisition unit with a signal indicative of airflow through the user'"'"'s nose, the pneumotachometer being capable of detecting minute changes in airflow through the user'"'"'s nose.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a nasal cannula coupled to the data acquisition unit to provide the data acquisition unit with a signal indicative of airflow through the user'"'"'s nose by detecting a difference in pressure between the nasal cavity and the atmosphere.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

at least one wireless sensor placed on the user'"'"'s body for collecting data indicative of sleep disturbances of the user, the at least one wireless sensor being located outside of the sensor strip.

6. The system of claim 5 at least one wireless sensor is configured to collect data indicative of obstructive sleep apnea.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein data indicative of the frequency and duration of the sleep disturbances is collected by the data acquisition unit for use in identify underlying medical conditions of the user.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the data acquisition unit is configured to download the collected sensor data to an external computer system, and wherein the external computer system is configured to analyze the data to characterize types of sleep disturbance events experienced by the user for use in diagnosing underlying medical conditions of the user.

9. A system for assessing sleep quality of a user, the system comprising:

a wearable data acquisition unit for concurrently measuring data indicative of a sleep state of a user and indicative of sleep disturbances experienced by the user;

a sensor strip coupled to the data acquisition unit, the sensor strip comprising at least one sensor configured to detect a psychophysiological data of the user and to provide the data to the data acquisition unit, wherein the data acquisition unit is configured to receive and collect data from the sensors in the sensor strip; and

a nasal pneumotachometer coupled to the data acquisition unit to provide the data acquisition unit with a measurement of airflow through the user'"'"'s nose.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the sensor strip is disposable and can be decoupled from the data acquisition unit and replaced with a new sensor strip.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the sensor strip includes an adhesive backing for removeably affixing the sensor strip to the user'"'"'s body.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the sensor strip comprises a sheet of adhesive foam in which the at least one sensor is embedded and wherein the sensor strip includes conductive gel placed over each conductive sensor.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the data acquisition unit is held in position on the user'"'"'s head using a removable headband.

14. The system of claim 9 further comprising:

at least one wireless sensor placed on the user'"'"'s body for collecting data indicative of sleep disturbances of the user, the at least one wireless sensor being located outside of the sensor strip.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein the data acquisition unit includes a sensor driving unit that is configured to provide a driving current to one or more sensors included in the sensor strip.

16. The system of claim 9 wherein the sensor strip includes at least one electrode for measuring EEG, EOG, or EMG and at least one reflectance sensor.

17. The system of claim 9 wherein the sensor strip includes traces that create electrical circuit connections while holding the at least one sensor against the user'"'"'s forehead.

18. A system for assessing sleep quality of a user, the system comprising:

a sensor strip comprising at least two sensors configured to detect data indicative of sleep disturbances of a user, the sensors being configured to collect data of a different type, the sensor strip being removeably affixed to the user'"'"'s body; and

a wearable data acquisition unit coupled to the sensor strip;

the data acquisition unit being configured to receive and collect data from the sensors in the sensor strip.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the sensor strip is disposable and can be decoupled from the data acquisition unit and replaced with a new sensor strip.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the sensor strip includes an adhesive backing for removeably affixing the sensor strip to the user'"'"'s body.

21. A method for assessing sleep quality of a user using a wearable data acquisition unit, the method comprising:

acquiring physiological signal data at the data acquisition device from a sensor strip affixed to the user'"'"'s forehead while the user is sleeping;

downloading the signal data from the data acquisition device to an external computer system;

analyzing the physiological signal data to assess a sleep stage of the user using the external computer system;

analyzing the physiological signal data for patterns of sleep and breathing discontinuity using the external computer system; and

identifying abnormal biological markers based on samples obtained from the user to predict the likelihood of onset of disease using the external computer system;

summarizing sleep architecture, respiration, and fragmentation patterns from the signal data using the external computer system; and

generating a sleep study report from the signal data using the external computer system.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving subjective questionnaire responses for at least one questionnaire related to factors that can impact sleep quality; and

correlating the subjective questionnaire responses with the signal data received by the data acquisition unit using the external computer system.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving psychophysiological assessment data for the users; and

analyzing the psychophysiological assessment data to identify abnormal psychophysiological conditions using the external computer system.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

comparing the signal data to a database of comparative subject data, wherein the database includes data for healthy and for chronic diseased patients, to determine the likelihood that the user may be developing a chronic disease that can negatively impacting sleep quality.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

identifying disease management recommendations for the user by correlating the signal data and physiological and psychophysiological data related to the user with disease management recommendations.