EarlySense’s contact-free under-the-mattress monitoring system has been found to detect and alert for respiratory depression with high positive predictive value. This is according to a clinical poster presented at the 2018 American Thoracic Society (ATS) Conference.

The study highlights the use of EarlySense’s continuous monitoring platform to effectively monitor respiratory rate of patients on opioids.

“One of the key complications resulting from opioid use in hospitalized patients is respiratory distress that can lead to ICU [intensive care unit] transfers and sadly, even death. Moreover, respiratory depression is a key risk factor across the healthcare continuum, from hospitals to skilled nursing facilities,” says Michael Wong, JD, executive director of The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS), in a release. “For this reason, all patients receiving opioids should be continuously electronically monitored, to help provide early detection of the risk of respiratory depression and enable timely intervention.”

The study analyzed 6,590 hospitalization days—more than 160,000 hours of monitoring via the EarlySense system—and detected 91 events of respiratory depression. The positive predictive value of 70% of events detected by the EarlySense system were classified as respiratory depression or sleep apnea related. The study indicated a false alarm rate of less than one in 5,000 hours of monitoring, translating to one false alarm every seven months. The study also covered a range of care units and highlighted the variance in incidence rate. Long-term care units had the lowest incidence rate of respiratory depression, while post-op units had the highest.

“This data highlights the value and accuracy of EarlySense analytics to provide health teams with an effective tool to monitor and improve care for patients at risk of respiratory depression,” says Zvika Shinar, chief scientist of EarlySense. “Continuously monitoring the respiratory signal provides a rich data set that enables delivery of highly actionable insights to clinicians. These results coincide with a new patent we received on advanced respiratory analysis for clinical deterioration detection.”

EarlySense’s FDA-cleared and CE-approved solutions are used by healthcare facilities around the world. The company holds several patents on detecting and predicting respiratory patterns and episodes through the use of a contact-free sensor. EarlySense recently received its 25th US Patent, covering the analysis of respiratory signal shapes for early warning of deterioration.