Beacon Biosignals, the global leader in at-home EEG and AI-powered brain health analytics, presented two scientific posters at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) Annual Meeting. These posters highlight groundbreaking work resulting from collaborations with both Longboard Pharmaceuticals and UCB, focusing on advancing understanding of sleep disturbances in individuals with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) and their caregivers.
Innovative Research in LGS Caregiver Sleep Patterns The first work, created in partnership with Longboard Pharmaceuticals, presents preliminary findings from the Dreem LGS Caregiver Study. This study leverages Beacon’s FDA-cleared Dreem 3S EEG headband to explore sleep disturbances in caregivers of children with LGS. The results demonstrate that caregivers successfully utilized the at-home EEG device over multi-night recordings, capturing high-quality data without technologist intervention. Findings revealed significant sleep fragmentation among caregivers, likely due to the demands of nocturnal care.
The study found a significant increase in Wake After Sleep Onset (WASO) in LGS caregivers of 37.79 minutes vs. 24.70 minutes in controls (p<.05), as well as shortened Sleep Onset Latency of 14.62 minutes vs. 23.43 minutes in controls. These insights provide an essential foundation for understanding the intersection of caregiver burden, stress, and sleep quality in this underserved population.
New Insights into Sleep Architecture in LGS
The second poster, developed in collaboration with UCB, focuses on the HEADFIRST study, which evaluates sleep architecture in children with LGS compared to neurotypical siblings. Using the Dreem 3S EEG headband, this study identified marked disturbances in sleep patterns among LGS participants, including increased wakefulness during sleep periods (WASO) and fewer sleep cycles (mean of 4.6 in LGS participants vs. 2.6 cycles in neurotypical controls, p<0.05). Critically, LGS participants also exhibited a significant reduction in REM sleep (56.77 minutes, vs. 104.34 minutes in controls, p<0.05*), a finding consistent with the neurological underpinnings of the syndrome.
HEADFIRST is a basket study that aims to assess the Dreem 3S headband’s usability in tracking sleep and brain activity in both pediatric patients with neurodevelopmental disorders and in neurotypical controls, enrolling up to 300 participants across multiple disorders. The first phase of the study, in partnership with the Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) Foundation, focuses on usability, reliability, and clinical utility of using Dreem for a pediatric cohort with LGS. These are the first results from the HEADFIRST study after only starting in mid-September 2024, and these findings underscore the importance of longitudinal sleep data in understanding LGS-related sleep pathology and its implications for treatment.
“Our AES presentations this year demonstrate the transformative potential of Beacon’s technology in advancing neurodiagnostics,” said David Matthews, PhD, Chief Business Officer of Beacon Biosignals. “By collaborating with industry leaders like UCB and Longboard, we are uncovering critical insights into epilepsy-related sleep disorders, supporting the development of novel therapies, and ultimately improving outcomes for patients and their families.”
Feasibility of At-Home EEG in Clinical Trials
Beacon will take the results from these two studies forward to assess the extent to which the Dreem 3S overcomes the challenges posed by traditional wired EEG systems, which can be intrusive and disruptive for patients and their caregivers while limiting longitudinal data collection. The Dreem 3S headband, equipped with six dry-EEG electrodes and an accelerometer for head movement and body position monitoring, collects clinical-grade EEG data in the comfort of the patient’s home. The device’s AI-driven sleep staging capabilities have already been validated to perform equivalent to or better than human experts. The FDA’s recent authorization of Beacon’s Dreem 3S as the first wearable with a Predetermined Change Control Plan (PCCP) ensures the ongoing enhancement of these capabilities and reinforces Beacon’s leadership in clinical-grade EEG acquisition, analytics, and sleep research.
