diagnosis with overnight oxygen level study only

this seems to have happened with a user on another board and the doc wrote a prescription for a CPAP based mostly on the test results

I hadnt heard of this before, the test was done at home, if it becomes popular, it may put sleep labs out of business

from what Ive heard, not all apnea sufferers have an oxygen loss if untreated

Seems to me this is not adequate to diagnose sleep apnea, since there can be other causes of lowered oxygen levels (like anemia).

It's a good clue, very quick and inexpensive, so I'm for it. Had it been available to me I would have been diagnosed years before I was as I refused to sleep somewhere with people watching me - creepy!

If my annoying sleep movements and snoring hadn't caused a serious drop in O2, I would not be on APAP today. My bottom line is low O2 is the devil and the rest is merely inconvenient.

That was the first step for me. My Dr ordered the oximeter test first and when he saw the results he then recommended the full up sleep test.

There is a home diagnostic device by Respironics called the ApneaLink. It measures respiration, snoring and apneas/hypopneas via a nasal cannula. It can also be connected to a pulse oximeter. You use it for one night, and data for the entire night can be downloaded from it by a professional afterwards. It provides graphical data for the entire night, including AHI. It has no way to distinguish obstructive events from central events, however.

I used one as a preliminary screen for a research study.

jdm2857 wrote:There is a home diagnostic device by Respironics called the ApneaLink. It measures respiration, snoring and apneas/hypopneas via a nasal cannula. It can also be connected to a pulse oximeter. You use it for one night, and data for the entire night can be downloaded from it by a professional afterwards. It provides graphical data for the entire night, including AHI. It has no way to distinguish obstructive events from central events, however.

I used one as a preliminary screen for a research study.

My son had something that sounds like this from Kaiser. Likewise he did home titration with an auto. I am not overly impressed with the data gathered by sleep labs as they basically report the same thing and cost a lot.

If it will get people to get the diagnosis, why not. It isn't definitative, it just tells you something is wrong but at least you have that.

Quebec Medicare does this too. There is no need for an over priced sleep lab study unless the home study indicates it. The home study is the first in a series which can accumulate in a full blown lab study, but doesn't for the vast majority of people.

I believe the ApneaLink Plus does differentiate between obstructive and central apneas.

ResMed wrote:Configurable analysis parameters—allow for the adjustment of obstructive and central apnea thresholds

http://www.resmed.com/us/products/apnea ... s&sec=true