Imagine the possibility of a diagnosis of sleep apnea without the overnight sleep evaluation. A research abstract presented yesterday at SLEEP 2011, the 25 Anniversary Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC, suggests that people with obstructive sleep apnea make different sounds as compared to people without sleep apnea and that sound analysis could be a viable diagnostic option for OSA. Wow.
People with OSA have a narrower and more collapsible pharynx, which creates greater resistance when breathing through the nose. And, because breathing sounds are directly related to pharyngeal pressure—which is more negative in OSA patients than in non-OSA patients—researchers were able to analyze the this to detect the OSA patients.
In the research study, patients with varying levels of OSA and age-matched control subjects without OSA were instructed to breathe through their nose at a normal breathing level for at least five breaths and then breathe at their maximum flow level for another five breaths. This was repeated but the subjects breathed through their mouth with a nose clip in place. Breathing sounds were picked up by a microphone placed over the neck.
According to Dr. Zahra Moussavi, professor and Canada Research Chair on Biomedical Engineering at the University of Manitoba, “If we can predict the likelihood of apnea and its severity with the same accuracy as in our pilot study, it will have a significant impact on healthcare costs as it can reduce the need for full-night sleep assessment.”
Amazing.
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