Portable sleep monitoring accurate in heart failure patients

(HealthDay)—For patients hospitalized with decompensated heart failure, portable sleep monitoring with respiratory polygraphy can accurately diagnose sleep apnea, according to a study published in the July issue of CHEST.

Rashmi Nisha Aurora, M.D., from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues performed concurrent respiratory polygraphy and polysomnography on 53 hospitalized patients with decompensated heart failure. Using standard criteria, both recordings were scored for obstructive and central disordered breathing events, and the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was determined. Concordance between the overall, obstructive, and central-AHI values derived from respiratory polygraphy and polysomnography was assessed.

The researchers found that the correlation coefficient from the two diagnostic methods was 0.94 for the overall-AHI. The average difference in the AHI between the two methods was 3.6 events/hour. Strong concordance between the two methods was seen in analyses of the central and obstructive AHI values, with correlation coefficients of 0.98 and 0.91, respectively. In 89 percent of the sample, there was complete agreement in the classification of sleep apnea severity.

"Portable sleep monitoring can accurately diagnose sleep apnea in hospitalized heart failure patients and may promote early initiation of treatment," the authors write.

Two authors disclosed financial ties to the medical device industry.

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