Level of Evidence of Guidelines for Perioperative Management of Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea: An Evaluation Using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II Tool.

Currently, the quality of guidelines for the perioperative management of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is unknown, leaving anesthesiologists to make perioperative management decisions with some degree of uncertainty. This study evaluated the quality of clinical practice guidelines regarding the perioperative management of patients with OSA. This study was reported in compliance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A systematic search of the MedlineALL (Ovid) database was conducted from inception to February 26, 2021, for clinical practice guidelines in the English language. Quality appraisal of guidelines was evaluated using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) framework. Descriptive statistical analysis of each of the 6 domains was expressed as a percentage using the formula: (obtained score - minimum possible score)/(maximum possible score - minimum possible score). Of 192 articles identified in the search, 41 full texts were assessed for eligibility, and 10 articles were included in this review. Intraclass correlation coefficients of the AGREE II scores across the 7 evaluators for each guideline were each >0.9, suggesting that the consistency of the scores among evaluators was high. Sixty percent of recommendations were based on evidence using validated methods to grade medical literature, while the remainder were consensus based. The median and range scores of each domain were: (1) scope and purpose, 88% (60%-95%); (2) stakeholder involvement, 52% (30%-82%); (3) rigor of development, 67% (40%-90%); (4) clarity of presentation, 74% (57%-88%); (5) applicability, 46% (20%-73%); and (6) editorial independence, 67% (19%-83%). Only 4 guidelines achieved an overall score of >70%. This critical appraisal showed that many clinical practice guidelines for perioperative management of patients with OSA used validated methods to grade medical literature, such as Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) and Oxford classification, with lower scores for stakeholder involvement due to lack of engagement of patient partners and applicability domain due to lack of focus on the complete perioperative period such as postdischarge counseling. Future efforts should be directed toward establishing higher focus on the quality of evidence, stakeholder involvement, and applicability to the wider perioperative patient experience.

High-Flow Nasal Oxygen Improves Safe Apnea Time in Morbidly Obese Patients Undergoing General Anesthesia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Morbidly obese patients undergoing general anesthesia are at risk of hypoxemia during anesthesia induction. High-flow nasal oxygenation use during anesthesia induction prolongs safe apnea time in nonobese surgical patients. The primary objective of our study was to compare safe apnea time, between patients given high-flow nasal oxygenation or conventional facemask oxygenation during anesthesia induction, in morbidly obese surgical patients. METHODS: Research ethics board approval was obtained. Elective surgical patients ≥18 years with body mass index ≥40 kg·m were included. Patients with severe comorbidity, gastric reflux disease, known difficult airway, or nasal obstruction were excluded. After obtaining informed consent patients were randomized. In the intervention (high-flow nasal oxygenation) group, preoxygenation was provided by 100% nasal oxygen for 3 minutes at 40 L·minute; in the control group, preoxygenation was delivered using a facemask with 100% oxygen, targeting end-tidal O2 >85%. Anesthesia was induced with propofol, remifentanil, and rocuronium. Bag-mask ventilation was not performed. At 2 minutes after rocuronium, videolaryngoscopy was performed. If the laryngoscopy grade was I or II, laryngoscope was left in place and the study was continued; if grade III or IV was observed, the patient was excluded from the study. During the apnea period, high-flow nasal oxygenation patients received nasal oxygen at 60 L·minute; control group patients received no supplemental oxygen. The primary outcome, safe apnea time, was reached when oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry (SpO2) fell to 95% or maximum 6 minutes of apnea. The patient was then intubated. T tests and χ analyses were used to compare groups. P < .05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Forty patients completed the study. Baseline parameters were comparable between groups. Safe apnea time was significantly longer (261.4 ± 77.7 vs 185.5 ± 52.9 seconds; mean difference [95% CI], 75.9 [33.3-118.5]; P = .001) and the minimum peri-intubation SpO2 was higher (91.0 ± 3.5 vs 88.0 ± 4.8; mean difference [95% CI], 3.1 [0.4-5.7]; P = .026) in the high-flow nasal oxygenation group compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: High-flow nasal oxygenation, compared to conventional oxygenation, provided a longer safe apnea time by 76 seconds (40%) and higher minimum SpO2 in morbidly obese patients during anesthesia induction. High-flow oxygenation use should be considered in morbidly obese surgical patients.