VISUAL AND DIFFERENT AUTOMATIC SCORING PROFILES OF RESPIRATORY VARIABLES IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF SLEEP APNEA-HYPOPNEA SYNDROME

The purpose of our study was to explore the diagnostic accuracy of dif ferent methods of scoring night time recording of respiratory variable s (NTRRV) for the diagnosis of the sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome (SA HS), Within a 2 week period, we performed a partially attended night t ime recording of respiratory variables and a full polysomnography (PSG ) for reference in patients with suspected SAHS, Night time recording of respiratory variables was carried out using equipment which records , and continuously displays on a monitor, oximetry, airflow, chest and abdominal motion and body position, Night time recording of respirato ry variables was scored manually and automatically, according to diffe rent combinations of the parameters described previously, Full polysom nography was performed in the Sleep Laboratory following conventional standards, Thirty six patients were studied, Visual analysis and diffe rent automatic scoring profiles of night time recording of respiratory variables were compared to full polysomnography in terms of agreement , sensitivity and specificity, Visual scoring of night time recording of respiratory variables gave the finest agreement-sensitivity-specifi city relationship, Automatic scoring of nighttime recording of respira tory variables showed a trend to underestimate the apnoea-hypopnoea in dex (AHI) with respect to full polysomnography due mainly to underreco gnition of hypopnoeas, Agreement-sensitivity-specificity relationships of automatic night time recording of respiratory variables with respe ct to full polysomnography varied depending on the automatic profile u sed, Some had a good agreement and sensitivity whilst others had a goo d specificity, These findings show that visual scoring of night time r ecording of respiratory variables is the most accurate method of analy sis when compared to full polysomnography. The usefulness of the autom atic methods of scoring of respiratory variables depends on the end-po int chosen and is not reliable enough to be used in all situations, Ni ght time recording of respiratory variables represents a real compleme nt to conventional full polysomnography in clinical practice,