Can fitness trackers detect sleep apnoea?

What does this mean for you?

Your blood oxygen levels can reveal a lot about underlying medical conditions, such as sleep apnoea (closure of the airways during sleep). A healthy oxygen saturation percentage should be greater than 95%. Your blood carries oxygen to the cells throughout your body to keep them healthy. When blood oxygen levels are low, your cells become oxygen deprived and your heart has to work harder under more stress, leading to conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and stroke.

You can use your SpO2 to measure your oxygen levels before and after exercise, and also to see whether you may be suffering from a respiratory problem. It can be useful for those suffering from asthma, pneumonia, heart failure, or lung cancer. However, it is the ability to monitor and detect sleep apnea that really makes SpO2 a worthwhile sensor, as many will go undiagnosed and develop long term health complications. By measuring your blood oxygen levels during the night, fitness trackers can detect whether your airways have been closing and causing your oxygen to fall. Hopefully, this will help many more people be diagnosed and treated for sleep apnoea before it causes other health issues.

The CPAP Clinic has a network of 40 clinics nationwide, and works in partnership with Centurion Healthcare, a Respiratory & Sleep Specialist clinic group to provide comprehensive sleep care including: 1. Respiratory & Sleep Specialist consultation – face-to-face and telehealth available 2. Sleep studies – in-lab, home and contactless sleep studies available. Bulk billing available for specialist telehealth consultations as well as sleep studies. Medicare criteria apply.

Call 1300 76 29 39 or email info@thecpapclinic.com.au for more information.