Simple four-variable screening tool for identification of patients with sleep-disordered breathing

Area of Science:

• Medical Research
• Public Health
• Diagnostic Tools

Background:

• Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) affects a significant portion of the population, often going undiagnosed.
• Accurate identification of moderate-to-severe SDB is crucial for timely intervention and management.
• Existing screening methods can be complex and less accessible in various settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a simple, accessible screening tool for identifying patients with moderate-to-severe sleep-disordered breathing (SDB).
• To create an integer-based risk scoring system using easily obtainable variables.
• To ensure the tool's applicability in both clinical and community-based health assessments.

Main Methods:

• Logistic regression analysis was employed to construct an integer-based risk scoring system.
• A derivation study involved 132 hospital patients and 175 rural residents in Japan.
• Validation was performed on 308 employees undergoing a health check at a Japanese company.

Main Results:

• The screening tool incorporates four variables: sex, blood pressure, body mass index, and snoring.
• The tool achieved an area under the ROC curve of 0.90, with 0.93 sensitivity and 0.66 specificity at a cutoff of 11.
• Validation data showed strong agreement between predicted and observed prevalence, with ROC areas of 0.78 for moderate-to-severe SDB and 0.85 for severe SDB.

Conclusions:

• The developed screening scoring system is a valid instrument for identifying and assessing moderate-to-severe SDB.
• The tool's reliance on four routinely collected variables facilitates easy detection in clinical and public health settings.
• This simple screening method offers a practical approach to managing SDB prevalence.