Itamar Medical Ltd.develops, manufactures and markets non-invasive diagnostic medical devices for sleep apnea with a focus on the cardiology market. Today they announced that its WatchPAT has been selected for inclusion in the Weizmann Institute’s Project 10K.
One of the largest projects of its kind, the 10K Project is a longitudinal study designed to collect lifestyle and clinical data from 10,000 individuals over ten years and aims to use state-of-the-art artificial intelligence technologies to analyze the data in order to generate personalized predictions for disease risk factors. These predictions may improve health outcomes by enabling detection and intervention of treatable medical conditions prior to the onset of symptoms.
“The choice of Itamar Medical’s advanced WatchPAT system for the diagnosis of sleep apnea emphasizes the relationship and significance that the medical and public health communities attribute to the sleep dimension and the impact of sleep quality on the risks of morbidity and heart disease in particular,” said Gilad Glick, President and Chief Executive Officer of Itamar Medical. “We are pleased to be part of Project 10K and to help expand the understanding of the role that sleep apnea plays in multiple aspects of human health.”
As part of the project, Itamar will provide 150,000 WatchPAT tests for the diagnosis and monitoring of sleep apnea. Each subject will undergo a WatchPAT Sleep Apnea diagnostic test once every two years. The WatchPAT’s signals and test results will be used by the team of researchers in developing advanced artificial intelligence-based prediction tools that will reveal connections between sleep apnea and other health conditions that have not previously been known or understood.
Prof. Eran Segal, who is leading Project 10K, said, “WatchPAT’s ability to monitor sleep so comprehensively in combination with the multitude of other parameters we are collecting from individuals participating in the project will allow us to find unprecedented new connections between sleep and morbidity.”