Digital phenotyping of sleep patterns among heterogenous samples of Latinx adults using unsupervised learning

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study aimed to identify sleep disturbance subtypes (“phenotypes”) among Latinx adults based on objective sleep data using a flexible unsupervised machine learning technique. MethodsThis study was an analysis of sleep data from three cross-sectional studies of the Precision in Symptom Self-Management Center at Columbia University. All studies focused on sleep health in Latinx adults at increased risk for sleep disturbance. Data on total sleep time (TST), time in bed (TIB), wake after sleep onset (WASO), sleep efficiency (SE), number of awakenings (NOA) and the mean length of nightly awakenings were collected using wrist-mounted accelerometers. Cluster analysis of the sleep data was conducted using an unsupervised machine learning approach that relies on mixtures of multivariate generalized linear mixed models. ResultsThe analytic sample included 494 days of data from 118 adults (Ages 19–77). A 3-cluster model provided the best fit based on deviance indices (ie, DΔ∼ −75 and −17 from 1- and 2- to 3-cluster models, respectively) and likelihood ratio (Pdiff ∼ 0.93). Phenotype 1 (n = 64) was associated with greater likelihood of overall adequate SE and less variability in SE and WASO. Phenotype 2 (n = 11) was characterized by higher NOAs, and greater WASO and TIB than the other phenotypes. Phenotype 3 (n = 43) was characterized by greater variability in SE, bed times and awakening times. ConclusionRobust digital data-driven modeling approaches can be useful for detecting sleep phenotypes from heterogenous patient populations, and have implications for designing precision sleep health strategies for management and early detection of sleep problems.