Screening for obstructive sleep apnoea in post-treatment cancer patients

For cancer patients, comorbid obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) poses additional risk to their surgical/anaesthetic outcomes, quality of life, and survival. However, OSA screening is not well-established in oncology settings. We tested two screening tools (STOP-Bang questionnaire [SBQ] and the at-home monitoring device, ApneaLink™Air), for predicting polysomnography (PSG) confirmed OSA in post-treatment cancer patients.

Breast (n = 56), endometrial (n = 37) and melanoma patients (n = 50) were recruited from follow-up clinics at Westmead Hospital (Sydney, Australia). All underwent overnight PSG, 137 completed SBQ, and 99 completed ApneaLink™Air. Positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values for PSG-determined moderate-to-severe OSA and severe OSA, were calculated using an SBQ threshold ≥3 au and ApneaLink™Air apnoea-hypopnea index thresholds of ≥10, ≥15 and ≥30 events/h.

Both SBQ and ApneaLink™Air had high NPVs (92.7% and 85.2%-95.6% respectively) for severe OSA, but NPVs were lower for moderate-to-severe OSA (69.1% and 59.1%-75.5%, respectively). PPV for both tools were relatively low (all <73%). Combining both tools did not improve screening performance.

These screening tools may help identify cancer patients without severe OSA, but both are limited in identifying those with moderate-to-severe or severe OSA. PSG remains optimal for adequately identifying and managing comorbid OSA in cancer patients.