Study: Sleep Apnea Can Be Diagnosed at home.

[hecate]

Sleep Apnea Can Be Diagnosed Without Overnights In A Sleep Lab
Science Daily — Exclusively ambulatory techniques and equipment were as successful at identifying and treating sleep apnea as the current method of polysomnography, which requires several supervised overnight stays in a sleep laboratory, according to a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

The ambulatory method involved identifying high-probability patients with a standardized clinical assessment and at-home portable sleep monitoring and auto-titration of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).

Sixty-eight patients with high likelihood of having sleep apnea were assigned to groups that received polysomnography or the sleep tests at home. Both groups received continuous positive airway pressure at night at home through a CPAP machine with face mask and hose.

After three months, the groups had the same results on three outcome measures, and those who received the initial diagnosis at home were more likely to adhere to the use of the CPAP treatment.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by American College of Physicians.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 100349.htm[/url]

[tomjax]

This is not new and has been around for some time.
It is an excellent review of those issues.

If a person has ONLY OSA, then this is a very attractive option especially when money is an issue.

In an era of those trying for a zero risk motivated by lawyeers who want to SUE SUE SUE, then the point may be made that a full psg can diagnose many more sleep conditions.
IMHO, for practical purposes I think this is an excellent approach and should be the standard.
But how many PCPs will feel comfortable doing this?
CYA is big here.
tomjax