by -- Lindsey Marcellin
Updated: May 19th 2010

WEDNESDAY, May 19 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with obstructive sleep apnea who are tested and initiated on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment at home do not have an inferior outcome compared to those who are tested in a sleep lab, according to research published in the May issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and presented May 19 at the annual international conference of the American Thoracic Society, held in New Orleans.

S.T. Kuna, of the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, and colleagues conducted a randomized, parallel groups study of veterans tested for obstructive sleep apnea at a sleep lab compared to veterans tested and initiating CPAP treatment at home. The primary outcome measure was the change in score on the Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ) after three months of CPAP treatment. A total of 296 patients (95 percent males) were included.

The in-lab and in-home groups had a similar level of obstructive sleep apnea severity at the start of the study, and there was no significant difference in their baseline FOSQ scores. Of the 223 patients who were started on CPAP, 185 completed the three-month FOSQ. There was no significant difference in functional improvement between the two groups at three months.

"This randomized clinical trial demonstrated non-inferiority of functional outcome following three months of CPAP treatment in patients with [obstructive sleep apnea] randomized to either standard in-laboratory polysomnographic testing versus unattended home testing with portable monitors," the authors write.

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