Wearable Monitoring Captures Sleep Disturbances in Patients With Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Previous studies suggest that patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) experience impaired sleep, contributing to fatigue. Traditional methods like polysomnography or questionnaires are resource-intensive and may not capture sleep in natural settings. We explored whether widely available consumer-grade smartwatches offer a feasible way to assess sleep quality in this population.

METHODS

The Electronic Monitoring of Disease Activity in patients with CIDP (EMDA-CIDP) study was a prospective observational study conducted from January 2023 to July 2024 at the University Hospitals of Düsseldorf and Münster. 46 patients had nighttime sleep recorded for 6 months via smartwatch. Additionally, clinical scores (e.g., Inflammatory Rasch-built Overall Disability Scale), sleep (PSQI, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), and quality of life (QoL) questionnaires were collected every 3 months.

RESULTS

Of 46 participants, 40 met adherence criteria (≥ 75% wear time on ≥ 75% of nights, median age: 66 years [IQR: 59.5-70.3], 9 [22.5%] female). Median PSQI score was 6 (4-7.6), sleep efficiency 93% (92-95), and WASO (wake after sleep onset) 32 min (24-42). Smartwatch-derived objective sleep measures - sleep efficiency and WASO - correlated significantly with PSQI (Spearman's R = -0.49, R = 0.40), clinical scores, and QoL.

INTERPRETATION: Sleep is impaired in patients with CIDP and contributes to the overall disease burden. Our findings suggest that sleep disturbances can be tracked longitudinally using smartwatch-derived markers. Integrating digital health data presents promising opportunities for long-term sleep monitoring in this population. Larger studies, ideally incorporating polysomnography, are warranted to validate these findings.