Evaluation of the Vibe Actigraph in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Pilot Study

Study objective: To validate the Vibe actigraph in assessing sleep-wake patterns compared to polysomnography (PSG) in patients with COPD. Methods: Nine stable COPD patients wore actigraphs while undergoing PSG. The correlation between total sleep time (TST), total sleep period (TSP), sleep onset latency (SOL), wake after sleep onset (WASO), and sleep efficiency was determined for corresponding measurements from the actigraph and PSG. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated for the actigraph, considering PSG the gold standard. Levels of agreement between the variables of PSG and the actigraph were estimated using Bland-Altman plots. Results: A strong and statistically significant correlation was noted between PSG and the actigraph in detecting movement during sleep [mean activity score (counts)], TST and TSP (all r(s) = 0.83; p = 0.005). The median agreement of sleep and wake counts between PSG and the actigraph was 73% and the Cohen’s Kappa value was 0.66. The medians of sensitivity and specificity of the actigraph for detecting sleep versus PSG were 84 and 66%, respectively. The median positive and negative predictive values of the actigraph were 74 and 72%, respectively. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that, under controlled laboratory conditions, the Vibe actigraph in its default settings is a promising tool for the detection of sleep-wake parameters in a small number of ambulatory patients with COPD. Clinical Impact: The actigraph used in this pilot study suggests that these devices could provide clinically relevant information in COPD to better understand the relationship between sleep and health in this population.