Self-administered electroencephalography-based sleep assessment: compliance and perceived feasibility in children and adults

Background
Sleep is a crucial part of our lives and insufficient sleep has been linked to several health disorders in both children and adults. However, most studies are based on single night laboratory polysomnography, actigraphy, or sleep diaries. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate compliance to and perceived feasibility of the Zmachine insight+ for assessment of habitual sleep parameters in a sample of children and adults for six nights. The secondary aim was to report sleep parameters derived from the Zmachine.

Methods
We analyzed data from 12 families who participated in the SCREENS pilot trial (2018–2019). Children (n=14) and adults (n=19) had to undergo three nights of EEG-based sleep assessment at baseline and follow-up. We assessed compliance to the sleep assessment protocol and summarized perceived feasibility in children and adults. Summary estimates were computed for total sleep time, sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, light sleep, deep sleep, and rapid eye movement sleep.

Results
Compliance to the sleep assessment protocol was high with 92.9 and 89.4% of children and adults meeting the a priori specified compliance goal of at least two out of three nights of complete sleep data at both baseline and follow-up. In general, the protocol was perceived as feasible, with low prevalence of sleep disruption and only minor issues, e.g. difficulties with removing sensors. Results on sleep parameters indicate large within group variation.

Conclusions
Our findings support the use of a self-administered EEG-based habitual sleep assessment protocol, including multiple days of measurement, in children and adults.

Trial registration
Cilinicaltrials.gov: NCT03788525 [Secondary outcome measures; Retrospectively registered; 27th December, 2018].