Can a smartwatch flag hidden sleep apnea?

Clinical takeaway: Consider smartwatch-based sleep apnea screening as a potential way to identify patients who may benefit from formal diagnostic testing, particularly those at elevated risk for moderate-to-severe disease.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) remains substantially underdiagnosed despite links to cardiovascular disease, stroke, depression, and motor vehicle accidents. Consumer wearables are widely used, raising the possibility of scalable screening tools that could help shorten the path to diagnosis and treatment.

In a validation study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, researchers evaluated the Samsung Galaxy Watch's Sleep Apnea Feature in 147 adults (mean age, 54 years) who either had known moderate-to-severe OSA or were considered likely to have the condition. Participants wore the Galaxy Watch 6 during two nights of laboratory sleep studies and three nights of home monitoring.

Compared with overnight sleep study results, the smartwatch correctly identified moderate-to-severe OSA in 94% of cases. At the device's default setting, sensitivity was 94%, indicating that it detected nearly all patients with clinically significant OSA, while specificity was 67%.

Performance was even stronger among participants with high-risk disease characterized by a high hypoxic burden, a measure reflecting the extent of oxygen desaturation during sleep. In this subgroup, the smartwatch achieved 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity, correctly classifying all participants in the analysis.

The investigators emphasized that the device is intended as a screening tool rather than a replacement for diagnostic sleep testing. However, they said the findings support the growing role of consumer wearables in identifying individuals who may otherwise remain undiagnosed and untreated.

“Our findings show that consumer smartwatches can make sleep apnea screening more accessible by identifying people at risk for moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea,” said principal investigator Robson Capasso, MD. “By bringing validated screening into something people already wear every night, we may be able to identify risk earlier and shorten the path to evaluation and to low-risk, well-established therapies such as positive airway pressure and weight management.”

Source: Alavi A, et al. (2026 Aug 27) J Clin Sleep Med. Smartwatch-based detection of moderate-to-severe and high-risk obstructive sleep apnea