The SIESTA recording protocol
A major task of SIESTA was the recording of a large normative
data base of both healthy subjects and patients with sleep
disturbances
of disorders affecting their sleep. The aim was to record data from 200
normals across all age groups from 20 to over 80, two nights each, and
data from up to 100 subjects with disorders from one of the following
groups:
-
sleep apnea
-
mood disorders
-
anxiety disorders
-
Parkinson's disease
-
PLMS
Data records should consist of two polygraphic all-night records,
results
from clinical examination, results from questionnaires and psychphysic
tests, and data from 14 days of actigraphy. The main motivations in
setting
up the protocol were:
-
to include a variety of biosignals and variables known to bear
information
about sleep architecture and disturbances. With respect to EEG, the
goal
was to evenly cover the scalp in both hemispheres and to include
topographic
information.
-
to include information about subjective and objective quality of sleep
-
to include information about day-night cycles and circadian rhythms
-
to be able to apply strict exclusion criteria in order to ensure a
truly
normative data base
-
to include normative information about the specific disorders
Of course, the variety of signal and other information is limited to
the
common denominator of a large group of different sleep labs, in terms
of
number of channels they can record and in terms of time available for
tests
and examinations. This is why the protocol specifies a minimum
obligatory
setting but provides room for optional additional channels and
procedures.
We invite you to download the protocol:
Acknowledgement
The recording task of SIESTA (which is otherwise sponsored by the EU
commission,
DG XII), in particular the recording of actigraphic data, was supported
by Cambridge Neurotechnology.