How Many More Nights? Diagnosing and Classifying Obstructive Sleep Apnea Using Multinight Home Studies

Simonds discusses the study by Lechat and colleagues on the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and night-to-night variation in AHI. The study examined the global prevalence of OSA in 20 countries in which at least 300 users had registered. They estimated overall prevalence of OSA in Japan to be 15%, the US 21.6%, Germany 29%, France 23.1%, and the UK 22.9%. The results revealed that an average of 21% of diagnoses (no OSA vs. OSA) would be false negative on a single night study. Severe OSA was correctly classified in 85% of cases, whereas mild and moderate OSA were correctly classified in only 54% and 52% of nights on a single night.