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Validation of a single-channel airflow monitor for screening of sleep-disordered breathing

¹ Dept of Pulmonology, Fukuoka National Hospital, Fukuoka, ² Dept of Public Health, Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime University, Ehime, and ³ Dept of Internal Medicine, Tenri City Hospital, Tenri, Japan.

CORRESPONDENCE: H. Nakano, Dept of Pulmonology, Fukuoka National Hospital, 4-39-1 Yakatabaru, Minami-ku, Fukuoka, 811-1394, Japan. Fax: 81 925669444. E-mail: nakano_h{at}palette.plala.or.jp

Keywords: Power spectral analysis, screening, sleep apnoea, thermal sensor

Received: October 4, 2007
Accepted April 26, 2008

A simple screening method for sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is desirable for primary care practices. In the present study, a simple monitor, which utilises a new type of flow sensor and a novel algorithm, was prospectively validated.

Home recording for 2 nights with the monitor only, followed by in-laboratory recording with the monitor together with polysomnography, were carried out in consecutive patients (n = 100) suspected of SDB. A subjective sleep log was also recorded. The signal was analysed using power spectral analysis, which yielded the flow respiratory disturbance index (flow-RDI).

There was no recording failure at home. The reproducibility of the flow-RDI between the 2 nights at home was high (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.92). The sensitivity and specificity of the in-laboratory flow-RDI to diagnose SDB were 0.96 and 0.82, 0.91 and 0.82, and 0.89 and 0.96, for apnoea/hypopnoea index (AHI) 5, 15 and 30 events·h^–1, respectively. The diagnostic ability in low-severity subgroups (female, normal weight, AHI <15 events·h^–1) was almost comparable to that in the entire group. Excluding subjective waking time on the sleep log from the recording time had no significant effect on the flow-RDI.

The single-channel monitor is considered feasible for ambulatory sleep disordered breathing monitoring because of its easy applicability, high reproducibility and relatively high agreement with polysomnography results.