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Although that can depend heavily on the individual patient's needs and even though In Lab Studies, or PSG's are the Gold Standard, home sleep studies in most cases are preferred due to not only being done in the comfort of your home but are also less expensive and provide several consecutive nights studies in order to better account for the night to night sleep variability that we all demonstrate.
New findings about patient satisfaction with sleep tests reveal that our previous assumptions may need to be revisited:
Patients can be diagnosed with sleep apnea at home using a home sleep apnea test (HSAT) or in the sleep lab with polysomnography (PSG). Several studies have found that medically uncomplicated patients at high risk of obstructive sleep apnea that get diagnosed either way have similar CPAP adherence and patient-reported outcomes. For this reason, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that either method can be used in these types of patients.
A team of MyApnea researchers and patients wanted to learn more about this topic. In a structured research setting, patients do well with both types of diagnostic tests. But what about in the real world? Are patients equally satisfied with both options?
The surveys you complete here at MyApnea.Org ask about your experience getting diagnosed and treated outside a structured research setting, in the real world. Survey responses were analyzed from 2563 MyApnea members regarding satisfaction with sleep study experience. The results of these surveys showed that patients who had their studies in-lab were more likely to be satisfied with their experience than patients who had a home sleep test. Specifically, 71% of patients who had their studies in-lab were satisfied with their experience versus 60% of patients who had a home sleep tests. These new results suggest that the comparison of in-lab PSG to home-based tests needs to be re-examined. More “real-world” studies assessing patient preferences and satisfaction regarding sleep apnea care are needed. You can read more about these published research findings.
The MyApnea research team wants to thank you for your contribution. We were able to learn something new about sleep apnea diagnosis because you completed the research surveys. Together, we are helping the sleep apnea community continue to learn and improve. Our research team just launched new surveys. Contribute to new research today by visiting the research page !