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 23.12.2025

IBEC develops a mobile technology for the diagnosis of sleep apnea after a stroke

A research team led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB-UB), has developed an innovative portable system based on smartphones to assess sleep apnea in individuals with different health conditions. The study, published in IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering in collaboration with Guttmann Institute, shows that this technology can facilitate the early detection of a common but underdiagnosed disorder that negatively affects recovery and rehabilitation after stroke.

Sleep apnoea is a disorder characterised by repeated obstructions or collapses of the upper airway during sleep. These interruptions to breathing reduce the amount of oxygen in the blood. Stroke patients are at high risk, as they experience poorer sleep quality and have a higher prevalence of sleep disorders, such as insomnia and respiratory problems.

More than 50% of people who have suffered a stroke have sleep apnoea, but many cannot access sleep studies because they have other health complications and because current tests, such as polysomnography, are uncomfortable, complex, and costly.

Led by Raimon Jané, a professor at UPC and principal investigator at IBEC and CIBER-BBN, as well as leader of IBEC’s Biomedical Signal Processing and Interpretation (BIOSPIN) group, the work has been published in the IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering journal.

The new system uses the sensors built into smartphones and a wireless pulse oximeter to record acoustic, movement and oxygenation signals during the night. This allows multimodal digital biomarkers related to breathing, body position and oxygen saturation to be extracted.

According to Jané, “integrating digital biomarkers obtained with smartphones can improve the detection, understanding and management of sleep apnoea after a stroke, reducing its clinical impact and promoting functional recovery”.

The study involved 30 patients in the subacute phase of stroke and 30 people who had not suffered a stroke (17 men and 13 women) aged between 33 and 63. The results revealed that 67% of stroke patients suffered from moderate to severe sleep apnoea, compared to 40% of the control group. Severe apnoea was found in 40% of stroke patients, compared to 7% of the control group.

For Yolanda Castillo, IBEC and CIBER-BBN researcher and the study’s first author, “the study provided a detailed description of sleep apnoea and positional patterns after stroke, as well as a comparison with a control group without disability. We observed a high prevalence of sleep apnoea, mouth breathing, and a supine sleeping position in stroke survivors — factors that contribute to airway obstruction”.

This new approach opens the door to incorporating a simple, accessible, portable tool for sleep monitoring in clinical and home settings, especially in the early stages of post-stroke rehabilitation.

» Link to the news: IBEC website [+]