SAN DIEGO — Home testing for obstructive sleep apnea reduces costs and preserves good clinical outcomes compared to traditional testing in a sleep lab, according to a new study from researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh. The new study was presented yesterday at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Diego.
The randomized clinical trial examined 233 veterans undergoing testing with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device while sleeping; 110 of them in the lab and 113 at home. Both groups were overwhelmingly male, with an average age of 52 in the lab-based testing group and 55 in the home-testing group. Home testing consisted of an overnight recording with portable monitors to diagnose and help map a plan to begin CPAP treatment. Cost data were culled from case reports, staff logs, and VA administrative records and were estimated per category—sleep-related, pharmaceutical, laboratory, hospital, and other costs.
The research team was led by Penn Medicine’s Samuel T Kuna, MD, associate professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and chief of the Sleep Medicine section at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The team’s analysis found no evidence of clinical inferiority of home testing when assessed using the Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire. And, the cost of sleep services, measured over 2.75 years, was $564 lower with home testing compared to lab testing.
“These data, we believe give further support to the use of to the use of home sleep apnea management,” says Kuna. “It represents a cost-savings and allows the patient to use the device for the first time in the comfort of their own bed in their own home.”
The project was funded by a Health Services Research and Development (HSRD) grant from the Veterans Health Administration.
Penn Medicine is one of the world’s leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, excellence in patient care, and community service. The organization consists of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Penn’s Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine, founded in 1765 as the nation’s first medical school.
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