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Imagine what would happen if 90% of sleep apnea patients were found and treated.
What would that world look like? Would healthcare costs plummet? Would the US economy thrive?
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Permalink Reply by Jason on
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Yeah i guess thats true. In my case I am not overweight but I do have heart problems, borderline diabetes and pre-hypertension, mild depression, and memory problems. So my doctor recommended me to have a sleep study done to rule out if sleep apnea was a potential cause. My results came back as having saver sleep apnea. So yeah I guess your right about doctors already have a good guess to those who have sleep apnea. I was just curious because everyone I have ever know that has had that test done as come back positive. I sounded kinda fishy to me.
j n k said:It might seem that way.
But think about it.
Sleep tests are so expensive that only people with symptoms and obvious signs of sleep problems get sent for the studies. So basically, the people sent for sleep tests are ones the doctors already know need treatment. In my opinion, the only reason the sleep test happens, in many instances, is simply to prove to insurance what the doctor already knows from the symptoms and examination.
So the problem is that not enough borderline people are being sent for studies.
If everyone was sent for sleep studies, whether they had any symptoms or not, the percentages would be very different.
Jason said:I asked my doctor about how many people tested come back positive for sleep apnea and he said that 95% of those tested came back positive. This to me does not sound right. Its hard from me to believe that majority of people tested have sleep apnea. I was under the impression that less then 10% of population has some form of sleep apena, even 10% sounds high to me. So how can 95% of those tested come back positive.
Sound like a push to market CPAP equipment.
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Mike said:
"Imagine what would happen if 90% of sleep apnea patients were found and treated."
Answer: World Peace! Just like the John Lennon Imagine song. ..."Imagine all the people living in harmony with CPAP"
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Permalink Reply by Banyon on
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Back to the prevalence of apnea, here is what one source says, " Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is the most common category of sleep-disordered breathing and affects approximately 38 million Americans (33% of the American adult population .... http://www.imtheramedical.com/knowledge-center/index.php "
It is certain that the percentage afflicted rises substantially from 33% with age. 50+% for the elderly is certainly likely if you believe 33% for all adult ages.
Here is reference to another study, " ... Among the elderly, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is present in 24% of people who live independently, 33% of those in acute care institutions, and 42% who are in nursing homes. http://www.betterlivinghomeimprovement.com/medicare-and-sleep-apnea... "
Except for those who "drop dead healthy", all are nursing home candidates and candidates for the 50+% who eventually develop sleep apnea.
From personal experience in a nursing home environment, I have observed many with obvious signs of sleep apnea who go undiagnosed. It is not something most doctors routinely check for.
However, the short answer is, "I made that statistic up." But as more evidence emerges, it will be found to be in the ballpark.
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Doesn't make sense to me.
I am always referring to all cases of SDB (UARS, OSA, whatever) that could benefit from an effective therapy. I will stick by the 50% number - it's a good number to hit people over the head with and get them to thinking about doing something.
Anyway, got to end this holiday weekend and get on the road.
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Permalink Reply by Rooster on
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"Imagine what would happen if 90% of sleep apnea patients were found and treated."
Lawyers for the other 10% would sue us into oblivion?
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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This does not make sense. I have seen many different Dx for OSA. The only symptom you need for a study is a complaint of fatigue. everything else is pie filler. I think that we need to do away with the different names for apnea, OSA, organic OSA, and sleep apnea. if you have an AHI over 5 you have a sleep related breathing problem. if you have it one way or another it needs to be corrected.
j n k said:I would have to make up a statistic to attack your made up statistic, so I'll let it stand. :-)
Thing is, I think you may often take the statistics about the number of people for whom OSA is "present" (in the sense of having an AHI over 5) and then assume that means all those people would be diagnosed as having obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS/OSAHS).
My understanding is that those are two very different things.
Someone without symptoms may not receive the diagnosis, even if they have an AHI of 20 AHI or so, according to present standard practice. Having effects beyond AHI is needed for the diagnosis in every definition of the syndrome.
So when statistics include people with an AHI between 5 and 20, some include them as those "with" OSA and some include them as those "without" OSA. And that is fine (even if very confusing), since, depending on whether you are discussing people with a significant measurable amount of breathing disturbance or are discussing people who would actually get diagnosed, in context, it may be correct to include them in either category.
In other words, "OSA" is sometimes used to refer to people with AHI over five and is sometimes used more specifically to refer to people diagnosed, or who meet the criteria for, "OSAS" or "OSAHS."
Confusing, but a distinction worth making when throwing statistics around, and few studies bother to do that these days, it seems.
Does that make any sense, or am I talking in circles again. Because I never know. :-)
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If a lab follows the AASM guidelines that number should be around 80%. We have to remember that people do not come to sleep labs because they are sleeping well. The majority of patients know that something is wrong with the way that they are sleeping. most of the time it is apnea.
Jason said:I asked my doctor about how many people tested come back positive for sleep apnea and he said that 95% of those tested came back positive. This to me does not sound right. Its hard from me to believe that majority of people tested have sleep apnea. I was under the impression that less then 10% of population has some form of sleep apena, even 10% sounds high to me. So how can 95% of those tested come back positive.
Sound like a push to market CPAP equipment.
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