Accuracy of respiratory event indices downloaded from positive airway pressure devices: can they be relied upon when making treatment decisions?

Abstract

Purpose of review: The gold standard for diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is attended overnight polysomnography (PSG) in a sleep laboratory. Alternative diagnostic techniques are urgently needed for both diagnosis and treatment control when initiating positive airway pressure (PAP) in the home setting. Current PAP devices compute data such as residual AHI (apnea-hypopnea index) using their proprietary algorithms to provide an automatic event detection (AED). It was suggested that these should be labeled AHIFLOW.

Recent findings: The current study situation shows an acceptable agreement with the tendency of mildly overestimating the AHI by the PAP devices. But, the literature is still limited in terms of accuracy, especially when considering the lack of standardization and different detection algorithms.

Summary: A validation of PAP devices regarding the agreement of AHIFLOW compared to AHIPSG is extremely important, given that the device analysis is exclusively based on the measured flow. There are considerable concerns about assessing the PAP effectiveness in higher risk groups based on the AED function alone. Given these reservations, the use of PAP event detection can be an important addition to the diagnostic spectrum and, in combination with telemonitoring, offers promising potential.