High-resolution wrist-worn overnight oximetry has high positive predictive value for obstructive sleep apnea in a sleep study referral population.

BACKGROUND: Reducing the need for diagnostic sleep studies for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) would reduce direct and opportunity costs while expediting time to treatment for this common and morbid disorder. We sought to determine if an established sleep apnea screening questionnaire (STOP-BANG) and wrist-worn overnight oximetry data could provide high positive predictive value for the presence of OSA. METHODS: We conducted a prospective observational study of consecutive unattended sleep study patients at a single facility. Patients were referred for sleep testing after chart review by a sleep physician. We assessed area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC AUC) and positive predictive value (PPV) of STOP-BANG score and oxygen desaturation index (ODI) for a respiratory disturbance index (RDI) ≥15/h. RESULTS: Among 234 test patients, 65 % had an RDI ≥15/h. STOP-BANG had poor ability to discriminate these patients (ROC AUC 0.62). ODI added significant diagnostic information to the STOP-BANG score, increasing the ROC AUC to 0.86. Having the ODI, the STOP-BANG score no longer contributed significant diagnostic information, and the ODI alone discriminated as well as the combination (ROC AUC 0.86). Forty nine percent had an ODI ≥7/h, which had PPV of 92 % (95 % confidence interval (CI), 86 to 96 %). In the validation sample of 1,196 consecutive patients, ODI ≥ 7/h had a PPV of 97 % (95 % CI, 95 to 97 %). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with a high prevalence of OSA, high ODI is common and its presence has high PPV for OSA. These data suggest that overnight oximetry prior to sleep testing could significantly reduce the number of patients requiring sleep studies, thereby reducing costs and time to treatment.

Chronic Bronchitis in COPD Patients Creates Worse Symptom Burden Regardless of the Presence of Bronchiectasis in the COPDGene Cohort.

PURPOSE: To assess whether the presence or absence of bronchiectasis has an impact on the patient-reported symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. METHODS: The study included participants from the COPD Genetic Epidemiology Study (COPDGene®) cohort with available high-resolution chest tomography reporting the presence or absence of bronchiectasis (BE+/BE-) and survey data reporting the presence or absence of chronic bronchitis symptoms (CB+/CB-). Patient symptoms based on the St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) were then compared for the different groups. RESULTS: The study population included 7976 participants, mean age 60, Global initiative for chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stages 0 to 4, 18.8% BE+, and 19.5% CB+. The presence or absence of radiographic bronchiectasis was not associated with higher frequency of chronic bronchitis (GOLD 0 group odds ratio [OR] 1.01 [0.78,1.31], GOLD 1-2 group OR 1.19 [0.95, 1.50], GOLD 3-4 group OR 1.26 [0.99, 1.60]). Similarly, CB+ participants had higher SGRQ scores than CB- participants regardless of the presence of BE. CONCLUSIONS: Across all GOLD stages, chronic bronchitis symptoms are associated with worse pulmonary symptoms and significant impairment in quality of life. For patients with chronic bronchitis, the presence or absence of bronchiectasis is not associated with a significant difference in SGRQ symptom scores. Symptoms of chronic bronchitis impose a heavy burden on patients and should be treated regardless of the presence or absence of underlying bronchiectasis.