Contactless Technologies, Sensors, and Systems for Cardiac and Respiratory Measurement during Sleep: A Systematic Review

Noncontact respiration monitoring techniques in young children: A scoping review

Pediatric sleep-related breathing disorders, or sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), cover a range of conditions, including obstructive sleep apnea, central sleep apnea, sleep-related hypoventilation disorders, and sleep-related hypoxemia disorder. Pediatric SDB is often underdiagnosed, potentially due to difficulties associated with performing the gold standard polysomnography in children. This scoping review aims to: (1) provide an overview of the studies reporting on safe, noncontact monitoring of respiration in young children, (2) describe the accuracy of these techniques, and (3) highlight their respective advantages and limitations. PubMed and EMBASE were searched for studies researching techniques in children <12 years old. Both quantitative data and the quality of the studies were analyzed. The evaluation of study quality was conducted using the QUADAS-2 tool. A total of 19 studies were included. Techniques could be grouped into bed-based methods, microwave radar, video, infrared (IR) cameras, and garment-embedded sensors. Most studies either measured respiratory rate (RR) or detected apneas; n = 2 aimed to do both. At present, bed-based approaches are at the forefront of research in noncontact RR monitoring in children, boasting the most sophisticated algorithms in this field. Yet, despite extensive studies, there remains no consensus on a definitive method that outperforms the rest. The accuracies reported by these studies tend to cluster within a similar range, indicating that no single technique has emerged as markedly superior. Notably, all identified methods demonstrate capability in detecting body movements and RR, with reported safety for use in children across the board. Further research into contactless alternatives should focus on cost-effectiveness, ease-of-use, and widespread availability.

Comparative analysis of sleep parameters and structures derived from wearable flexible electrode sleep patches and polysomnography in young adults

Polysomnography (PSG) is the gold standard for clinical sleep monitoring, but its cost, discomfort, and limited suitability for continuous use present challenges. The flexible electrode sleep patch (FESP) emerges as an economically viable and patient-friendly solution, offering lightweight, simple operation, and self-applicable. Nevertheless, its utilization in young individuals remains uncertain. The objective of this study was to compare sleep data obtained by FESP and PSG in healthy young individuals and analyze agreement for sleep parameters and structure classification. Overnight monitoring with FESP and PSG recordings in 48 participants (mean age: 23 yr) was done. Correlation analysis, Bland-Altman plots, and Cohen's kappa coefficient assessed consistency. Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values compared classification against PSG. FESP showed strong correlation and consistency with PSG for sleep monitoring. Bland-Altman plots indicated small errors and high consistency. Kappa values (0.70-0.84) suggested substantial agreement for sleep stage classification. Pearson correlation coefficient values for sleep stages (0.75-0.88) and sleep parameters (0.80-0.96) confirm that FESP has a strong application. Intraclass correlation coefficient yielded values between 0.65 and 0.97. In addition, FESP demonstrated an impressive accuracy range of 84.12-93.47% for sleep stage classification. The FESP also features a wearable self-test program with an error rate of no more than 8% for both deep sleep and wake. In young adults, FESP demonstrated reliable monitoring capabilities comparable to PSG. With its low cost and user-friendly design, FESP is a potential alternative for portable sleep assessment in clinical and research applications. Further studies involving larger populations are needed to validate its diagnostic potential.NEW & NOTEWORTHY By comparison with PSG, this study confirmed the reliability of an efficient, objective, low-cost, and noninvasive portable automatic sleep-monitoring device FESP, which provides effective information for long-term family sleep disorder diagnosis and sleep quality monitoring.