[Rinsho Byori 50 : 68-73, 2002]

An Ambulatory Respirometer(HotmateTM) as a Tool for Screening of Sleep Apnea Syndrome

Masami TANAKA*1, Kayo KATAGAI*2, Yukiko TSUTSUMI*3,
Taeko NAMEKAWA*4, Toshiaki FUKUHARA*5, Hajime TAKIZAWA*6,
Kazuhiko NAKAHARA*7 and Eijiro OHGA*8

The gold standard diagnostic method for sleep apnea syndrome(SAS) is overnight polysomnography(PSG), but is costly in terms of time and money. We studied the usefulness of a 24-hour ambulatory respirometer equipped with oximeter(Hotmate^TM) for screening of SAS. Seventy-six cases of suspected SAS were enrolled(68 males and 8 females, mean age 51). The correlation between data from Hotmate and PSG was evaluated in 24 cases who underwent both of the tests for the final diagnosis of SAS. There was a good correlation between the two parameters of the data obtained by Hotmate(H){H-apnea index(AI) vs H-desaturation index(DI)}. Among 24 cases who underwent both Hotmate and PSG, there was a good correlation between the data from PSG and Hotmate{PSG-AI vs H-AI：r＝0.80, p＜0.001}. Both sensitivity and specificity were highest when screening criteria of H-DI ＞15 was utilized(sensitivity＝91.7%, specificity＝66.7%). Our findings suggest that the respiromonitor with oximeter is useful for the screening the patients with SAS.

*1The Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Tokyo University Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655