Best Options for Diagnosing Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a highly under-diagnosed condition that results in breathing cessations during sleep, up to hundreds of times a night, which can seriously lower blood oxygen levels. If left untreated, sleep apnea is associated with a host of problems including daytime sleepiness, increase in car accidents and serious illnesses such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

Symptoms of sleep apnea can be hard to define because they are vague and often can be explained away by a patient’s overall condition. Snoring and daytime sleepiness are two hallmarks of sleep apnea, but do not in and of themselves prove someone has the condition. The first step in evaluating those symptoms is for your doctor to rule out other medical reasons for sleepiness such as interrupted sleep due to environmental reasons, narcolepsy, night shift work, etc. Additional indicators of sleep apnea that merit a sleeping test or an evaluation by a sleep specialist include:

• Sleepiness that is dangerous to others (pilots, truck drivers, and anyone who drives)
• Sleepiness that affects quality of life
• Partner reports of choking and gasping spells during sleep
• The presence of strongly associated conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes
• Children who snore loudly and have difficulty with concentration and paying attention in school

The best options for diagnosing sleep apnea are either an overnight polysomnography, which is conducted in a sleep lab, or a home sleeping test. Both tests evaluate the various sleep stages patients go through, and both monitor changes in breathing, episode of apnea (breathing cessation) and blood oxygen levels. Sleep lab studies are more labor-intensive and expensive, and home tests offer significant savings and patient comfort. However, home tests may not be appropriate for evaluating other sleep disorders, so if the results are unclear, a full polysomnography in a sleep lab may be necessary.

Many people prefer home sleep testing because it is more private, more comfortable, and is accurate in evaluating for the number of apneas, drops in oxygen, and heart rate variability. People with certain kinds of jobs such as pilots and truck drivers may choose home testing because it is more discreet and participation in a sleep study is less likely to be known to employers.

No matter where or how you get tested, greater than five episodes of apnea lasting longer than 10 seconds is considered significant sleep apnea if you are sleepy, and more than 15 episodes regardless of how sleepy you are. The good news is that there is effective treatment for sleep apnea, including CPAP or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. Lifestyle changes such as losing weight may also help the condition. The most important thing for symptomatic people to do is get tested, either at home or in a sleep lab, so sleep apnea doesn’t interfere any further with their quality of life.