The main advantage of the STOP-Bang scores is its flexibility to use different scores for different populations, reports CHEST Physician.
For example, in a bariatric population, a STOP-Bang score of greater than or equal to 4 can be used. On the other hand, in an ENT population, where we would like to identify a majority of patients with moderate-severe OSA, a STOP-Bang score of greater than or equal to 5 can be used. In the sleep clinic population, as the STOP-Bang score cut-off increased from 3 to 8, the specificity increased from 52% to 100%, and the PPV increased continuously from 93% to 100% for any OSA (AHI greater than or equal to 5). A similar pattern was seen in the surgical population, as the STOP-Bang score cutoff increased from 3 to greater than or equal to 7, the specificity increased from 40% to 98%, and the PPV increased from 75% to 82% for any OSA (AHI greater than or equal to 5) (Nagappa et al. PLoS One. 2015;10[12]:e0143697).
