February 6, 2007
The currently recommended practice of polysomnography (PSG) to diagnose sleep apnea and titrate CPAP is no more effective than ambulatory testing, a study published in February edition of Annals of Internal Medicine says.
The researchers identified 68 patients at high-risk of moderate to severe OSA and randomly assigned them to PSG or ambulatory titration by using a combination of auto-CPAP and overnight oximetry.
After 3 months, the outcome measures for the PSG and ambulatory titration showed similar results. Study results also found that adherence to CPAP was better in the ambulatory group.
Read an abstract of the study at http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/abstract/146/3/157
Read a New York Times article about this study at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/health/06diag.html.
