Chest ACCP Member Benefits
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Guest Access | Sign In via User Name/Password
First published online on October 9, 2007
Chest, doi:10.1378/chest.07-0250
doi:10.1378/chest.07-0250
(Chest. 2007; 132:1853-1857)
© 2007 American College of Chest Physicians
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
chest.07-0250v1
132/6/1853    most recent
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Article Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hernández, L.
Right arrow Articles by Montserrat, J. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hernández, L.
Right arrow Articles by Montserrat, J. M.

Management of Sleep Apnea*

Concordance Between Nonreference and Reference Centers

Lourdes Hernández, MD; Marta Torrella, MD; Núria Roger, MD; Antonia Llunell, MD; Eugeni Ballester, MD; Llorenç Quinto, MD; Mario Serrano, MD; Fernando Masa, MD and Josep M. Montserrat, MD

* From Institut Clínic del Torax (Drs. Hernández, Ballester, Quinto, Serrano, and Montserrat), Hospital Clínic, Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques Agustí Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), CibeRes, Barcelona, Spain; Pneumologia (Dr. Torrella), Hospital Asil de Granollers, Granollers, Spain; Pneumologia (Dr. Roger), Hospital General de Vic, Vic, Spain; Pneumologia (Dr. Llunell), Hospital de Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain; and San Pedro de Alcántara Hospital (Dr. Masa), CibaRes, Cáceres, Spain.

Correspondence to: Josep M. Montserrat, MD, Institut Clínic del Tòrax (ICT), Hospital Clínic, Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques Agustí Pi i Sunyer, CibeRes, Villarroel 170, 08034 Barcelona, Spain; e-mail: jmmontserrat{at}ub.edu

Abstract

Background: When a disorder is as prevalent as sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS), different medical levels and approaches should be involved in facilitating the diagnosis, at least, of patients with symptoms that disrupt social or working life, and of risk groups such as professional drivers. We sought to analyze the degree of concordance between management and treatment decisions for SAHS patients at sleep reference centers (RCs) and at non-RCs (NRCs).

Materials and methods: Eighty-eight consecutive patients with suspected SAHS were referred by family doctors to the NRC. The patients were studied randomly at the RC, using full polysomnography, and at the NRC, employing respiratory polygraphy. The concordance in the therapeutic approach between both centers was analyzed via the outcomes, and the physiologic variables of the sleep studies were also evaluated.

Results: The concordance in the final clinical decision was substantial. There was a good agreement with respect to apnea-hypopnea index as a categoric variable and as a continuous variable.

Conclusions: These results suggest that respiratory physicians with simple sleep studies are able to manage a large number of patients with SAHS.

Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT 00424658.

Key Words: full polysomnography • obstructive apnea • respiratory polygraphy • simple sleep studies






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2007 by the American College of Chest Physicians.