WEDNESDAY, April 23 (HealthDay News) -- A quick,
self-administered test to identify surgical patients who may have
potentially life-threatening obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been
developed by a team of Canadian anesthesiologists.
People with OSA experience repeated episodes of breathing
cessation while they sleep. The disorder affects 2 percent to 26
percent of the general population.
"Identifying patients with OSA is the first step in preventing
postoperative complications. Untreated OSA patients are known to
have a higher incidence of difficult intubation, postoperative
complications, increased intensive care admissions and greater
duration of hospital stay," Dr. Francis Chung, of the University of
Toronto, said in a prepared statement.
The STOP questionnaire by Chung and colleagues includes four
simple yes/no questions: Do you snore loudly?; Do you often feel
tired, fatigued or sleepy during daytime?; Has anyone observed you
stop breathing during sleep?; Do you have or are you being treated
for high blood pressure?
If a patient answers "yes" to two or more of the questions, then
he or she is considered to be at high risk for OSA. When other risk
factors for OSA -- high body-mass index, age over 50, large neck
circumference and being male -- were combined with the questions,
the STOP questionnaire's ability to predict OSA was even greater,
according to a study in the May issue of
Anesthesiology.
"Identifying patients who are at risk of having OSA in advance
of surgery is important to improve patient safety. In addition,
when anesthesiologists are forewarned of the severity of a
patient's sleep apnea, they can select appropriate anesthetic
techniques and equipment, and ensure that surgery takes place in a
facility which is equipped to deal with the potential
complications," Dr. Jeffrey B. Gross, chairman of the American
Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force for Perioperative
Management of Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea, said in a
prepared statement.
However, hospitals and clinics don't do routine OSA screening of
surgical patients because there hasn't been a simple, practical
method that's been proven to be effective.
"An overnight sleep study is the most reliable way to diagnose
OSA, but it is too time-consuming and expensive for every patient
to receive before surgery," Chung said.
In a companion study to their STOP questionnaire study, Chung
and colleagues validated two other screening OSA screening tools
for surgical patients -- the 11-question Berlin Questionnaire and
the American Society of Anesthesiologists checklist, which contains
12 checkable items for adults and 14 for children.
More information
The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more
about
sleep apnea.
