Using Actigraphy Watches to Measure Sleep Activity in Subjects with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a disorder which partially obstructs the airway as a result of the narrowing in the respiratory passage during sleep causing loud snoring, ox hemoglobin desaturation, excessive daytime sleepiness and disrupted sleep, including the fact that is potentially fatal for people overweight and with smoking profiles.  Actigraphy Watches are an effective method that has been helpful to study sleep/wake patterns in patients with sleep diseases.  30 Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea and 16 Controls were selected to wear a wrist actigraphy watch which stored data for approximately 3 months to objectively monitor sleep pattern by the occurrences of movement made where patients are assumed to make fewer movements when asleep. Our objective was to use actigrahy to find a significant improvement on the sleep patterns in OSA patients with treatment in contrast with control patients in respect with their sleep Efficiency over the first week of treatment.  Data analyzed in R using a 2 samples T-Test with a 95% confidence level supplied evidence that the true mean efficiency of the groups are not equal by 3 standard errors below the hypothesized difference of 0.