Publication details

Management of obstructive sleep apnea in Europe-A 10-year follow-up

Authors	FIETZE Ingo LAHARNAR Naima BARGIOTAS Panagiotis BASOGLU Ozen K DOGAS Zoran DRUMMOND Marta FANFULLA Francesco GISLASON Thorarinn GOUVERIS Haralampos GROTE Ludger HEIN Holger JENNUM Poul JOPPA Pavol KLAAS van Kralingen KVAMME John Arthur LOMBARDI Carolina LUDKA Ondřej MALLIN Wolfgang MARRONE Oreste MCNICHOLAS Walter T MIHAICUTA Stefan MONTSERRAT Josep PILLAR Giora PATAKA Athanasia RANDERATH Winfried RIHA Renata L ROISMAN Gabriel SAARESRANTA Tarja SCHIZA Sophia E SLIWINSKI Pawel SVAZA Juris STEIROPOULOS Paschalis TAMISIER Renauld TESTELMANS Dries TRAKADA Georgia VERBRAECKEN Johan ZABLOCKIS Rolandas PENZEL Thomas
Year of publication	2022
Type	Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source	Sleep Medicine
MU Faculty or unit	Faculty of Medicine
Citation
Web	https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389945722010310?via%3Dihub
Doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2022.06.001
Keywords	Sleep apnea; Europe; Diagnostic; Therapy; Telemedicine; Follow-up; HSAT; Polysomnography
Description	Objective: In 2010, a questionnaire-based study on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) management in Europe identified differences regarding reimbursement, sleep specialist qualification, and titration procedures. Now, 10 years later, a follow-up study was conducted as part of the ESADA (European Sleep Apnea Database) network to explore the development of OSA management over time.Methods: The 2010 questionnaire including questions on sleep diagnostic, reimbursement, treatment, and certification was updated with questions on telemedicine and distributed to European Sleep Centers to reflect European OSA management practice.Results: 26 countries (36 sleep centers) participated, representing 20 ESADA and 6 non-ESADA countries. All 21 countries from the 2010 survey participated. In 2010, OSA diagnostic procedures were performed mainly by specialized physicians (86%), whereas now mainly by certified sleep specialists and specialized physicians (69%). Treatment and titration procedures are currently quite homogenous, with a strong trend towards more Autotitrating Positive Airway Pressure treatment (in hospital 73%, at home 62%). From 2010 to 2020, home sleep apnea testing use increased (76%-89%) and polysomnography as sole diagnostic procedure decreased (24%-12%). Availability of a sleep specialist qualification increased (52%-65%) as well as the number of certified polysomnography scorers (certified physicians: 36%-79%; certified technicians: 20%-62%). Telemedicine, not surveyed in 2010, is now in 2020 used in diagnostics (8%), treatment (50%), and follow-up (73%). Conclusion: In the past decade, formal qualification of sleep center personnel increased, OSA diagnostic and treatment procedures shifted towards a more automatic approach, and telemedicine became more prominent.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).