Artificial Intelligence may improve management of sleep disorders: AASM

US: The potential use of Artificial Intelligence in the field of sleep medicine, resulting in advance diagnosis and treatment is given by a position statement from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

According to the statement, the electrophysiological data collected during polysomnography -- the most comprehensive type of sleep study -- is well-positioned for enhanced analysis through AI and machine-assisted learning.

"When we typically think of AI in sleep medicine, the obvious use case is for the scoring of sleep and associated events," said lead author and committee Chair Dr. Cathy Goldstein, associate professor of sleep medicine and neurology at the University of Michigan. "This would streamline the processes of sleep laboratories and free up sleep technologist time for direct patient care."

The use of AI can result in more accurate diagnoses, prediction of disease and treatment prognosis, characterization of disease subtypes, precision in sleep scoring, and optimization and personalization of sleep treatments. Goldstein noted that AI could be used to automate sleep scoring while identifying additional insights from sleep data.

"AI could allow us to derive more meaningful information from sleep studies, given that our current summary metrics, for example, the apnea-hypopnea index, aren't predictive of the health and quality of life outcomes that are important to patients," she said. "Additionally, AI might help us understand mechanisms underlying obstructive sleep apnea, so we can select the right treatment for the right patient at the right time, as opposed to one-size-fits-all or trial and error approaches."

Integration of AI into the sleep medicine practice include transparency and disclosure, testing on novel data, and laboratory integration.

"AI tools hold great promise for medicine in general, but there has also been a great deal of hype, exaggerated claims and misinformation," explained Goldstein. "We want to interface with industry in a way that will foster safe and efficacious use of AI software to benefit our patients. These tools can only benefit patients if used with careful oversight," she added.

The position statement, and a detailed companion paper on the implications of AI in sleep medicine, are available on the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine website.

For more information on sleep disorders and treatment, do visit http://sleepeducation.org/