# Development and use of SLEEPTRONIX for ambulatory assessment of sleep, temperature, and cortisol

> **NIH NIH R21** · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · 2024 · $253,500

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a common chronic condition that affects over 1 billion people worldwide.
Clinically, OSA is defined using the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) which quantifies the rate of respiratory events.
Recent evidence suggests that AHI has demonstrable limitations including poor predictive ability and relationship
to outcomes. To overcome the limitations of AHI, our group has recently developed “ventilatory burden”, a fully
automated breath-by-breath measure of abnormal breathing overnight, which is independent of hypoxia or
arousal consequences, as an alternative metric better suited in clinical management of OSA. Another pathway
that several groups have attempted to overcome the limitations of AHI is to use wearable devices that are easy
to use and provide surrogates of AHI (e.g., WatchPAT, Oximetry etc.). However, these devices do not
characterize the underlying ventilatory burden in OSA, which first and foremost is a sleep-related “breathing”
disorder. Further, the exclusion of EEG in these devices implies that the denominator for AHI, which is the total
sleep time, is estimated and not accurate. In this proposal, we aim to tackle both these issues by investigating
the utility of a low-profile, low-cost, non-commercial, open-source wearable sensor system (SLEEPTRONIX),
with physical resemblance to adhesive bandages that can monitor the requisite signals for fully characterizing
OSA pathophysiology (EEG/EOG/airflow/SpO2). Using innovative algorithms, we aim to show that the
SLEEPTRONIX derives accurate estimates of not only clinically used AHI metric, but also the ventilatory burden
which overcomes limitations of AHI. Using N=30 subjects newly diagnosed with OSA, and age, sex matched
healthy controls our primary aim is to develop and refine the SLEEPTRONIX system for continuous assessment
of multiple night’s sleep and breathing patterns. In addition, we will refine our SLEEPTRONIX system to measure
circadian rhythm parameters using temperature and cortisol levels that are assessed using novel
nanotechnologies. The successful completion of above aims will establish that sacrificing on the requisite
measurements of characterizing an individual’s underlying OSA is avoidable, and the use of wearables coupled
with innovative measurements of underlying ventilatory deficit in OSA has the potential to shift the paradigm in
OSA management.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10869056
- **Project number:** 1R21HL173733-01
- **Recipient organization:** ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
- **Principal Investigator:** Yun Soung Kim
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $253,500
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-06-01 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10869056

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10869056, Development and use of SLEEPTRONIX for ambulatory assessment of sleep, temperature, and cortisol (1R21HL173733-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10869056. Licensed CC0.

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