[Significance of a screening questionnaire for diagnosis of sleep apnea]

More and more patients present with nocturnal respiratory disorders, especially with sleep apnoea (SA). This makes it mandatory to develop methods for preselecting the patients. A symptom assessment questionnaire was developed according to the Marburg stepwise concept on sleep apnoea diagnostics. Every patient completes this questionnaire as a matter of routine before he is given an appointment for an examination. The procedure to be followed depends on the evaluation of this questionnaire. Questions asked: Weight, height, use of soporifics and sleeping pills, hypertension, snoring, involuntary falling asleep, respiratory standstills, tendency to fall asleep during car driving and accidents in which the tendency to fall asleep was also involved. Three categories result from the evaluation: presence of sleep apnoea improbable (negative), more accurate details of symptoms mandatory (checking required) sleep apnoea probable (positive), patient is given an appointment date. This method was tested on 124 patients (108 male, 16 female, average age 50 yrs., average body-mass index 29.1, average apnoea index (AI) 12.8) who completed the questionnaire and were examined as outpatients, independent of the evaluation of the questionnaire, using the MESAM-IV system (nocturnal long-term recording of respiratory noises, heart rate, oxygen saturation and posture sensor). Measurements according to MESAM-IV system yielded in 69 patients (55.6%) and AI < 6 (apnoea-negative). 12 patients (9.7%) had AI 6-10 (checking required), and 43 AI < 10 (positive). Basing on evaluation of the questionnaire, 42 of 43 apnoea-positive patients had been correctly classified (98%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)