Real-World Use of Consumer Sleep Devices: A Rapid Review.

Area of Science:

• Sleep science and technology
• Digital health and wearable devices
• Clinical informatics

Background:

• Growing awareness of sleep's health impact drives consumer sleep technology (CST) use.
• CSTs provide noninvasive, continuous sleep tracking in real-world settings.
• Limited understanding of CST accuracy compared to polysomnography (PSG) in free-living and clinical contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the accuracy and usability of CSTs in ambulatory settings.
• To assess CST performance in diverse and clinical populations.
• To guide future adoption and integration of CSTs.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of 29 studies evaluating CSTs in ambulatory settings.
• Analysis of CST accuracy for various sleep parameters (sleep time, efficiency, staging).
• Evaluation of device types (multi-sensor, contactless) and inclusion of clinical populations.

Main Results:

• CSTs demonstrated moderate accuracy for total sleep time and time in bed, but lower precision for sleep efficiency and staging.
• Estimates for REM and deep sleep were particularly unreliable.
• Multi-sensor devices showed modest improvements in sleep-wake detection; contactless devices had lower user burden but limited portability.
• Few studies included clinical populations or explored intervention delivery.

Conclusions:

• CSTs can support general sleep monitoring for duration and circadian timing.
• Accuracy limitations persist for sleep staging and fragmentation.
• Need for validation in diverse/clinical populations and improvements in device design, signal integration, and algorithm transparency for clinical relevance.