In 2005 in Sleep Thomas et al. described a technique using ECG to assess cardiopulmonary coupling during sleep. The current study by Al Ashry and Hilmisson et al. published online on January 20th, 2020 in the Annals of the ATS combined this technique with the oxygen desaturation index (ODI) to create a “derived apnea hypopnea index (DAHI)”.
Using data from the APPLES study, 833 PSGs were analyzed. The authors found a strong correlation between DAHI and traditional AHI3%, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.972. DAHI accurately diagnosed 98.5% (95%CI 97.6%-99.3%), 96.4% (95%CI 95.3%-97.5%), and 98.5% (95%CI 97.8%-99.2%) of mild, moderate, and severe OSA respectively. Furthermore, DAHI had better diagnostic accuracy than ODI3% alone.
This represents an important advancement in sleep apnea testing as the channels required to obtain an automated DAHI score are minimal, i.e. a single-lead ECG and SpO2 monitor.
Find the article @ https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1513/AnnalsATS.202005-510OC
Post by: Oren Cohen, MD
