Abstract
Introduction
Sleep apnea is a serious disorder associated with numerous health conditions. In clinical practice, providers order screening home sleep testing (HST) for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA); however, there is limited research about the negative predictive value (NPV) and false negative rate of this test. Providers may not understand HST limitations; therefore, what is the NPV and false negative rate in clinical practice?
Methods
A retrospective study of non-diagnostic HST is conducted in a Northeastern US rural community sleep clinic. The study population includes adult patients ≥ 18 years old who underwent HST from 2016-2019. The non-diagnostic HST result is compared to the gold standard, the patient’s nocturnal polysomnogram (NPSG). The results provide the NPV (true negative/total) and false negative (true positive/total) for the non-diagnostic HST.
Results
We identified 211 potential patients with a mean age of 43 years, of which 67% were female. Of those, 85% (n=179) underwent NPSG, with the others declining/delaying testing or lost to follow up. The non-diagnostic HST showed 15.6% NPV for no apnea using AHI<5 and 8.4% NPV using respiratory disturbance index (tRDI)<5. The false negative rate for AHI/tRDI was 84.4% and 91.6%, respectively. The AHI for positive tests ranged from 5-89 per hour (mean AHI 14.9/tRDI 16/hour), of which OSA was identified with an elevated AHI (≥5) ranging from 54.2% mild, 21.8% moderate, and 8.4% severe.
Conclusion
The high false negative rate of the HST is alarming. Some providers and patients may forgo NPSG after non-diagnostic HST due to a lack of understanding for the HST’s limitations. Knowing that the non-diagnostic HST is a very poor predictor of no sleep apnea will help providers advise patients appropriately for the necessity of the NPSG. The subsequent NPSG provides an accurate diagnosis and, therefore, an informed decision about pursuing or eschewing sleep apnea treatment.
Support
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A False Negative Study of the Steganalysis Tool Stegdetect
