The role of actigraphy in sleep medicine

Actigraphy has been used for more than 60 years to objectively measure sleep–wake rhythms. Improved modern devices are increasingly employed to diagnose sleep medicine disorders in the clinical setting. Although less accurate than polysomnography, the chief advantage of actigraphs lies in the cost-effective collection of objective data over prolonged periods of time under everyday conditions. Since the cost of wrist actigraphy is not currently reimbursed, this method has not enjoyed wide acceptance to date. The present article provides an overview of the main clinical applications of actigraphy, including the recommendations of specialist societies.