Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 25, 2026
Multi-Modal Home Sleep Monitoring in Older Adults
Published on: January 26, 2019
Reliability of home-based physiological sleep measurements in snoring and non-snoring 3-year olds
Amelia I Gill1, Elizabeth Schaughency, Andrew Gray
1Department of Women's and Children's Health, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Insights
Home sleep studies reliably measure snoring in 3-year-olds with one night of data. Other physiological sleep measures, like oxygen saturation, require multiple nights for accurate assessment in children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Sleep Medicine
- Respiratory Physiology
- Home Sleep Monitoring
Background:
- Snoring in young children can indicate underlying sleep-disordered breathing.
- Establishing reliable physiological reference values for pediatric sleep is crucial for diagnosis.
- Night-to-night variability in sleep parameters needs to be understood for accurate interpretation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate snoring and non-snoring 3-year-olds in their home environment.
- To establish reference values for physiological sleep measurements.
- To determine the night-to-night variability of these measurements.
Main Methods:
- 166 children (3.2-4.0 years) categorized by snoring risk.
- Home sleep screening using the Grey Flash system for up to five nights.
- Measurement of snoring, oxygen saturation, heart rate, movement, sleep efficiency, and timing.
Main Results:
- Snoring group: 25% total sleep time snoring; Non-snoring group: 7.6% total sleep time snoring.
- Snoring, turn index, and mean heart rate reliably assessed with one recording night (ICC ≥0.70).
- Mean SpO2 required two nights for non-snorers and five nights for snorers; SpO2 nadir lacked reliability even after seven nights.
Conclusions:
- Home-based snoring measurement in 3-year-olds is reliable with a single recording night.
- Most other physiological sleep parameters necessitate two or more recording nights for reliable assessment.
- This study provides insights into the reliability of home sleep monitoring in young children.
Purpose:
To study snoring and non-snoring 3-year olds in their own homes and to establish reference values and night-to-night variability of physiological measurements taken during sleep.
Methods:
One hundred and sixty-six children, aged 3.2-4.0 years, identified as at high (n = 83, M/F = 1.5:1) or low (n = 83, M/F = 1.4:1) risk for persistent snoring, as rated by a parent, wore a sleep screening system (Grey Flash) for up to five consecutive nights, to measure snoring, oxygen saturation, heart rate, movement, sleep efficiency, and sleep timing.
Results:
The snoring group snored 25% of their total sleep time, while the non-snoring group snored just 7.6%. Reliability estimates were calculated, using intraclass correlations to establish the reliability of single recordings and the Spearman-Brown prophecy formula to estimate reliability over multiple recordings. Snoring (percent), turn index (number of turns per hour), and mean heart rate were adequately assessed in both groups with one recording night (all intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) ≥0.70). Furthermore, mean SpO(2) was measured with sufficient reliability with two recordings in non-snorers (ICC = 0.71), while five recording nights were necessary to reach reliability in snorers (ICC = 0.71). SpO(2) nadir did not reach adequate reliability in either group even after seven recording nights.
Conclusions:
Our results showed that snoring can be measured reliably at home with just one recording night, whereas most other physiological sleep measures require two or more recordings.
