Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has launched the nation’s first pediatric sleep registry using Apple Watch technology, along with a new data collection app aimed at transforming how sleep disorders are diagnosed and treated in children.
The app, called WISE-HARE — short for Wearable Intelligent Sensor Enhancement Home Apnea Risk Evaluation — was developed by Los Angeles-based CHLA in collaboration with graduates from Apple’s Developer Academy in Fortaleza, Brazil. It collects high-fidelity data from Apple Watches, which will be used to train machine learning algorithms to detect sleep disorders and provide clinicians with critical insights for patient care, according to an April 22 news release.
Polysomnography, the gold-standard test for diagnosing sleep disorders, involves overnight hospital stays and extensive monitoring. These tests are costly, require long wait times and often do not reflect how children sleep in their home environment. The WISE-HARE app and registry aim to overcome those barriers.
CHLA is currently enrolling children ages 5 to 18 who are scheduled for a standard polysomnography study. Participants will use the WISE-HARE app and wear an Apple Watch alongside traditional PSG sensors. Data collected over the next year will help refine machine learning tools to screen for high-risk sleep disorders remotely — with the goal of eventually eliminating the need for in-hospital sleep studies.