http://www.thedoctorschannel.com/video/3611.html

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Sleep specialists can sometimes diagnose and manage obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with home-based tests instead of in-lab polysomnography, new research suggests.

In a randomized trial prepublished online in Chest on February 19, Canadian investigators showed that both approaches led to similar four-week outcomes in daytime sleepiness, sleep quality, blood pressure, and adherence to treatment.

Guidelines recommend overnight polysomnography for OSA diagnosis, but the authors note that testing at a patient’s home may be more accessible and cost-effective.

“In our region (and many others in North America), the wait times for OSA testing are quite long,” lead author Dr. Robert P. Skomro told Reuters Health by email. “We recognized that with rapid developments in the technology we could use home monitors to test breathing, oxygen levels and other parameters, thereby shortening the wait times for testing.”