In CONSERT, we are both happy and proud to announce that the project APNIWAVE submitted by Associate Professor S. A. Mitilineos, is approved for funding by the EIT Health Regional Innovation Scheme.
The research team of the APNIWAVE project, led by Prof. Mitilineos for the UNIWA part, aims at developing a device that will tackle the problem of efficient Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Hypopnea Syndrome (OSAHS) screening at home, in a convenient, non-invasive and efficient manner. The APNIWAVE device is lightweight and of very low volume, but packed with a resourceful inventory of features including a (FCC licensed) microwave radar sensor for collecting information on the breathing pattern during sleeping of the end user (patient) at the comfort of her/his home, as well as a state-of-the-art Machine Learning model for evaluating respiratory patterns and detecting apnea syndromes overnight.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Hypopnea Syndrome (OSAHS) is a widespread non-communicable disease with an estimated 2% of female and 4% of male population suffering from it. The consequent costs on induced diseases like cardiovascular disease, increased rates of car accidents due to the related sleepiness, and many other, are very heavy. Doctors regularly come face-to-face with the hard truth of lack of resources for efficiently evaluating apnea and hypopnea in candidate patients due to the fact that there exist no efficient techniques alternative to polysomnography for OSAHS screening and diagnosis. With polysomnography being an intense resource and cost-consuming overnight procedure that is uncomfortable both for patients and doctors, the latter urgently need an efficient way of screening patients among healthy individuals in order to target the disease of OSAHS and mitigate its social and economic impact.
APNIWAVE targets in raising awareness levels among citizens and doctors regarding the existence of OSAHS and detecting this disease early enough so as to guarantee a more efficient intervention.