The UK Health Security Agency and Sleep Cycle are today
announcing the beginning of a 12-week research collaboration to
understand if privacy-preserved data collected through a sleep
app can support traditional respiratory disease surveillance
systems and early detection of respiratory virus patterns.
The study will analyse trends derived from anonymised and
privacy-preserved data collected from the Sleep Cycle app between
January 2023 and January 2026 – and Sleep Cycle's Cough Radar, a
public visualisation tool that shows the data aggregated trends
in nightly coughing intensity across different regions in
England. The study then aims to explore if these signals can
provide earlier visibility into respiratory disease trends,
including viruses such as influenza, RSV, and Covid-19.
By analysing sleep-based signals such as nighttime cough
patterns, the study will investigate how this data corresponds to
the UK's existing hospital admission data and surveillance
indicators, and whether it provides an earlier signal of rising
infection rates.
This marks the first time that UKHSA will systematically assess
sleep app data to better understand its potential as a tool for
national epidemiological monitoring. It is also a significant
step forward in Sleep Cycle's evolution from a consumer sleep app
to a contributor in population-level health research.
Professor Steven Riley, Chief Data Officer at UKHSA, said:
As an agency we are constantly exploring how we can use new
technology, such as AI, to complement our existing surveillance
systems, and this innovative partnership represents a potential
important step toward integrating novel data streams into our
national health intelligence.
If successful, these insights could help us strengthen early
warning systems for respiratory infections in the UK.
Erik Jivmark, CEO of Sleep Cycle, said:
Sleep is one of the most consistent, passive windows into human
health. With more than 3 billion nights across 180 countries in
our library, we are excited to work with UKHSA to determine if
sleep can reveal meaningful population-level signals that offer
earlier visibility into respiratory trends.
Our partnership with UKHSA reflects the strength of the
nocturnal-breathing data we've gathered, and our commitment to
helping public health agencies continue to build their proactive
insight capability.
Traditional disease surveillance relies on data gathered from
laboratories, hospitals, and community reporting systems. UKHSA
also monitors a wide range of domestic and international
indicators that track early signs of potential respiratory trends
across the UK.
Sleep data, however, remains largely unexplored as a
population-level signal.
No UKHSA data will be shared with Sleep Cycle as part of this
study. Analysis will be conducted on UKHSA's secure systems by a
dedicated UKHSA research team, supported by data scientists and
epidemiologists from both organisations. Sleep Cycle contributes
only anonymised, privacy-preserved and aggregated insights from
its own technology and user-consented data library. UKHSA will
compare those trends against signals from its existing
surveillance ecosystem.
Sleep Cycle's data science and respiratory-signal research,
including its proprietary audio-based cough detection technology,
have demonstrated that nighttime cough behavior can correlate
with real-world viral activity. This collaboration provides an
opportunity to evaluate those findings within a national
surveillance framework.
The collaboration supports both parties' commitment to advancing
scientific understanding and responsible use of digital health
data for public benefit.
