Abstract
Introduction
In-hospital polysomnography (PSG or Level 1 study) is the “gold-standard” for investigating sleep disorders in children. There are long waiting lists for sleep studies in Australian tertiary centres. Level 2 home-PSG has been proposed as an alternate option. However, there are limited data regarding the feasibility in a clinical population. The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility and patient experience of home-PSG in a clinical cohort.
Methods
The signal quality and outcomes of a home-PSG in young people undergoing sleep investigation in a single centre were reviewed. A successful home-PSG was defined as a study with ≥ 6hrs of sleep and all channels present for ≥90% of sleep time. Feedback from the guardian/young person was collected using a questionnaire.
Results
Fifty-five patients (4m-18yrs) were included. Successful home-PSG, on the first attempt, was achieved for 48/55 (87%) patients. There were no differences in success when accounting for neurodevelopmental conditions, OSA severity or age. A clinical diagnosis was confidently made in 53 (96%) patients. The majority (76%) rated their sleep as the same or better than normal and only 12% found having the study conducted at home difficult. Following the study, only 8% would have preferred a hospital sleep study.
Discussion
Home-PSG produced technically adequate recordings for most subjects and families found the experience of having a home sleep study to be positive. These data support, in appropriate circumstances, home-PSG as a viable alternative to an in-patient sleep study.