Researchers from the UK DRI, Imperial College London, UCL and Newcastle University are collaborating in a major new project to develop a technology that could help identify people at risk of developing dementia by analysing their sleep patterns.
The Dementia Sleep Index, created by Dr Eyal Soreq and team (UK DRI Care Research & Technology, hosted by Imperial College London and the University of Surrey), is the outcome of a three-year collaboration with technology company Withings, using their Sleep Analyzer tracking mat.
By comparing sleep patterns of people living with dementia to data that equates to 3.7 million nights of sleep in the general population, Dr Soreq and his collaborators created a 'digital biomarker' that unveils a signature characteristic of sleep disorders frequently observed in people with dementia. In this new project, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), they will now extend this approach to see if it is possible to identify individuals at risk of developing dementia.