2017: Monitoring infant sleep by actigraphy ‐ State of the art and future

Actigraphy is a cost‐efficient method to objectively assess sleep across long time periods in natural settings. However, data analysis and comparison across studies are complicated due to use of a variety of monitoring devices and analysis algorithms as well as the lack of standardized scoring rules. The goal of this inter‐disciplinary, 2‐semester workshop is to achieve an overview on the actigraphy devices that are currently used in research and clinics with infants and toddlers (0‐3 years), and to discuss analytic approaches and existing Problems in exchange with other research groups in this field. As part of this grant, we will hold a Student course within the new Bio‐Medicine discipline at the University of Zurich (BME 348, fall semester 2017) in order to introduce the students to actigraphy and to get an overview of relevant literature. Based on the literature, the project leaders will define an expert panel to be invited for research meetings. The outcome of the research meetings will be a summary information sheet accessible to students, researchers and clinicians. We foresee the writing of a scientific article in an international journal authored by the project leaders. These meetings are open for interested students, sleep researchers and clinicians working with actigraphy and/or infants and toddlers. We believe that this workshop crucially incorporates state‐of‐the‐art knowledge on monitoring sleep by actigraphy. It will inspire future related projects and thereby strengthen the position of the Zurich sleep community.

BME 348 Block Course, Fall Semester 2017: Using Actigraphy in Sleep Research

Contact:  Helene Werner, PhD

Publication: Sarah F. Schoch, Salome Kurth, Helene Werner (2020) Actigraphy in sleep research with infants and young children: Current practices and future benefits of standardized reporting. Link