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Study: Family docs can effectively pre-screen for OSA during pandemic

Study: Family docs can effectively pre-screen for OSA during pandemic

DARIEN, Ill. - Family practitioners can effectively pre-screen patients for possible obstructive sleep apnea by asking about five items from the sleep symptom checklist, according to a new study. If OSA is suspected, they can then recommend behavioral changes, such as changing sleep position, to improve symptoms. The study, published online in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, was done to assess how patients can be identified for possible OSA while clinic testing is unavailable or limited by the COVID-19 pandemic, and what measures can be suggested to improve sleep health until proper diagnosis and treatment can begin again. The study looked at 156 family medicine patients with OSA (88 women, 68 men; mean age, 57 years) and 60 control participants (36 women, 24 men; mean age, 54 years) recruited from the community. They completed the sleep symptom checklist and a range of other self-reporting measures; the primary care patients also underwent a polysomnographic sleep study. Individuals with OSA reported more symptoms related to insomnia, daytime symptoms, sleep disorders, and psychological maladjustment than the control group, and their sleep-related symptoms were significantly more severe than those of the control patients. 

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