AnySleep: a channel-agnostic deep learning system for high-resolution sleep staging in multi-center cohorts

TL;DR

AnySleep is a versatile deep learning system capable of high-resolution sleep staging using diverse EEG/EOG data, facilitating multi-center studies and biomarker discovery by overcoming traditional epoch and electrode limitations.

Contribution

This work introduces a novel deep neural network that performs sleep staging at adjustable resolutions across heterogeneous electrode configurations, demonstrating robust generalization across multi-center datasets.

Findings

Achieves state-of-the-art performance at 30-s epochs.

Maintains strong performance with minimal or no EEG channels.

Improves detection of short wake intrusions and physiological markers.

Abstract

Sleep is essential for good health throughout our lives, yet studying its dynamics requires manual sleep staging, a labor-intensive step in sleep research and clinical care. Across centers, polysomnography (PSG) recordings are traditionally scored in 30-s epochs for pragmatic, not physiological, reasons and can vary considerably in electrode count, montage, and subject characteristics. These constraints present challenges in conducting harmonized multi-center sleep studies and discovering novel, robust biomarkers on shorter timescales. Here, we present AnySleep, a deep neural network model that uses any electroencephalography (EEG) or electrooculography (EOG) data to score sleep at adjustable temporal resolutions. We trained and validated the model on over 19,000 overnight recordings from 21 datasets collected across multiple clinics, spanning nearly 200,000 hours of EEG and EOG data, to promote robust generalization across sites. The model attains state-of-the-art performance and surpasses or equals established baselines at 30-s epochs. Performance improves as more channels are provided, yet remains strong when EOG is absent or when only EOG or single EEG derivations (frontal, central, or occipital) are available. On sub-30-s timescales, the model captures short wake intrusions consistent with arousals and improves prediction of physiological characteristics (age, sex) and pathophysiological conditions (sleep apnea), relative to standard 30-s scoring. We make the model publicly available to facilitate large-scale studies with heterogeneous electrode setups and to accelerate the discovery of novel biomarkers in sleep.