At Home Sleep Testing Equal To Overnight In A Sleep Lab In Treatment Results

Patients with suspected obstructive take apnea (OSA) may no longer have to spend an expensive and uncomfortable night at a snore center to monitor their sleep disorders breathing. According to new delve into, those who performed sleep testing in their home with little monitors showed similar improvements after three months of treatment with unbroken positive airway pressure (CPAP) in daytime function as compared to patients who underwent overnight testing in a doze center. Furthermore, patient adherence to CPAP over the first three months of treatment was be like in patients with OSA who received home versus in-lab testing. The research will-power be presented that the ATS 2010 International Conference in New Orleans.

Obstructive be in the arms of Morpheus apnea, a breathing disorder during sleep, is common, dangerous, and relatively easy to care of, but expensive to diagnose. “These findings represent a possible turning point for both patients with drowse-disordered breathing and the clinicians who treat them,” said Samuel T. Kuna, M.D., Chief of the pulmonary, depreciatory care and sleep section at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, who led the research.

“One of the biggest and most insurmountable barriers to treatment is the emergency for overnight testing in a sleep laboratory. Our research suggests that this may no longer be a necessary for diagnosis.” It is conservatively estimated that four percent of women and nine percent of men in the Harmonious States have moderate to severe OSA and that 80 percent of these individuals are undiagnosed and untreated. Patients with untreated OSA are at increased chance for traffic accidents, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

“Currently, most patients with OSA penury to perform overnight sleep testing in a sleep center,” explained Dr. Kuna. “The sequel has been unacceptably long patient wait times and restricted access to care.” The researchers conducted a two-locale study in which they randomized nearly 300 patients to undergo either rating in-laboratory sleep testing or at-home testing.

Of the 223 patients who started CPAP treatment after calculation, 185 completed three months of follow-up. They found that those who had undergone at-poorhouse testing showed improvements after three months of CPAP treatment similar to those who had undergone in-lab diagnosis. The CPAP machines utilized in the study recorded the patient’s use of the treatment. Average hours of daily use over the 3 month age were similar in the two groups.

“Proponents of in-laboratory testing row that patients performing in-lab testing might have better outcomes than those performing digs testing. For example, during in-lab testing, the patient spends a greater amount of time with a technologist who is competent to educate the patient about OSA and CPAP and help the patient overcome any barriers to diagnosis and treatment that mightiness arise during testing,” said Dr. Kuna.

“But our results did not find a diversity between home versus in-lab testing in terms of clinical outcomes. The two management pathways plain to be equivalent in terms of patients’ functional outcomes and ability to use CPAP treatment.” While approaching studies are needed to evaluate the cost effectiveness of home portable monitor testing, medical feel interest costs were examined in the study. “Those results are still being analyzed, but we assume that they will show that home portable monitor testing is less priceless than in-laboratory testing,” said Dr. Kuna.

Such a outcome, combined with the equivalent results of portable watchdog testing in terms of health-related outcomes urge that the portable devices may soon make in-lab testing a passion of the past for many OSA patients. “Our study indicates that severely portable monitor testing can be used to diagnose and run patients with OSA,” said Dr. Kuna.

“Greater use of shirt-pocket monitors will improve patient access to caution and hopefully reduce medical care cost by replacing an precious test (in-lab polysomnography) with the less expensive diggings testing.” This study was done in collaboration with Dr. Charles Atwood at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and the University of Pittsburgh.