AI could bring a better night’s rest

Artificial intelligence could be used to create personal treatment plans for many of the billion people suffering with sleep apnoea.

“An increase in the number of patients will pose challenges to health care and its resources,” Professor Juha Töyräs, Head of Biomedical Engineering at the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at University of Queensland. and Professor of Medical Physics and Engineering at University of Eastern Finland.

“It is, therefore, important that the project also takes into account therapeutic perspectives and explores the cost-effectiveness of the entire chain of examinations and care.”

The AI project, which runs to 2025, aims to draw up new international guidelines for the diagnosis of sleep apnoea using a patient database of more than 30,000 sleep recordings collected in hospitals and research centres, augmented by sleep questionnaires and data from consumer products, such as smartwatches.

Sleep apnoea has been associated with an increased risk for stroke, cardiovascular diseases, and Type II diabetes. It also erodes productivity, quality of life and even road safety.

This Horizon 2020 project is being led by Reykjavik University and involves 37 partners across the world including the University of Queensland.