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Paper

Estimating Breathing Disturbances and Sleep Apnea Risk from Apple Watch

Venue listed2024Added Oct 29, 2026

  • AW
  • NA

Authors: Apple Inc. (whitepaper, no named authors)

Apple whitepaper (September 2024; not peer reviewed)

PDF (opens in a new tab) Cite

TL;DR

Apple whitepaper on the Apple Watch sleep apnea notification, which uses accelerometer-derived Breathing Disturbances rather than PPG. In a 1,448-participant validation against home sleep apnea tests, the 30-day notification had 66.3% sensitivity and 98.5% specificity for moderate-to-severe OSA, with 89.1% sensitivity for severe OSA.

  • Reference: home sleep apnea tests (type 3)
Caveats
  • Home HSAT reference; 30-day multi-night decision; prevalence-weighted; vendor whitepaper.
  • 164/184; HSAT reference; vendor whitepaper.

Results on ChatPPG leaderboards · 3

All leaderboards
LeaderboardMethodResultRank
Apple validation study sensitivity (AHI ≥ 15)Sleep apnea (OSA) screeningApple Watch Sleep Apnea NotificationCaveat: Home HSAT reference; 30-day multi-night decision; prevalence-weighted; vendor whitepaper.66.3%sensitivity, higher is betterUnranked
Apple validation study sensitivity (AHI ≥ 30)Sleep apnea (OSA) screeningApple Watch Sleep Apnea NotificationCaveat: 164/184; HSAT reference; vendor whitepaper.89.1%sensitivity, higher is betterUnranked
Apple validation study specificitySleep apnea (OSA) screeningApple Watch Sleep Apnea NotificationCaveat: Home HSAT reference; 30-day multi-night decision; prevalence-weighted; vendor whitepaper.98.5%specificity, higher is betterUnranked

3 rows are credited to this paper. Ranks apply within each leaderboard only, as reported by the source.

Tasks & signals

Tasks

Sleep apnea (OSA) screeningSleep apnea

Signals

IMU

Keywords

Sleep ApneaOSABreathing DisturbancesAccelerometerFDA 510kVendor WhitepaperHSATWrist

How it works

How Method works: Setup → Method → TargetSetup: Cohort (1,448 participants completed the clinical validation); Signals (accelerometer (not PPG)). Method: Method. Target: Sleep apnea.SetupCohort: 1,448 participants completed the clinical validationCohort1,448 participants completed the…Signals: accelerometer (not PPG)xyzSignalsaccelerometer (not PPG)MethodMethodTargetSleep apneaSleep apnea
Cohort
1,448 participants completed the clinical validation

Cite this paper

Cite this paper with the fields recorded here. Check it against the publisher before submitting.

Inc., A. (2024). Estimating Breathing Disturbances and Sleep Apnea Risk from Apple Watch. Apple whitepaper. https://www.apple.com/health/pdf/sleep-apnea/Sleep_Apnea_Notifications_on_Apple_Watch_September_2024.pdf
Inc., Apple. 2024. "Estimating Breathing Disturbances and Sleep Apnea Risk from Apple Watch." Apple whitepaper. https://www.apple.com/health/pdf/sleep-apnea/Sleep_Apnea_Notifications_on_Apple_Watch_September_2024.pdf.
Inc., A. (2024) 'Estimating Breathing Disturbances and Sleep Apnea Risk from Apple Watch', Apple whitepaper. Available at: https://www.apple.com/health/pdf/sleep-apnea/Sleep_Apnea_Notifications_on_Apple_Watch_September_2024.pdf
Inc., Apple "Estimating Breathing Disturbances and Sleep Apnea Risk from Apple Watch." Apple whitepaper, 2024. https://www.apple.com/health/pdf/sleep-apnea/Sleep_Apnea_Notifications_on_Apple_Watch_September_2024.pdf.
A. Inc., "Estimating Breathing Disturbances and Sleep Apnea Risk from Apple Watch," Apple whitepaper, 2024, [Online]. Available: https://www.apple.com/health/pdf/sleep-apnea/Sleep_Apnea_Notifications_on_Apple_Watch_September_2024.pdf.
@article{inc2024estimating,
  title         = {{Estimating Breathing Disturbances and Sleep Apnea Risk from Apple Watch}},
  author        = {Inc., Apple},
  year          = {2024},
  journal       = {Apple whitepaper},
  url           = {https://www.apple.com/health/pdf/sleep-apnea/Sleep_Apnea_Notifications_on_Apple_Watch_September_2024.pdf}
}

Source metadata: 2024

Record updated Oct 29, 2026

Added to the ChatPPG research hub

Same tasks, data and authors

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