Background: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a respiratory sleep-related disease characterized by partial or complete recurrent upper airway obstruction during sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea is highly prevalent in middle aged population and is largely unrecognized in the primary care setting. Most of the clinicians do not suspect this important comorbidity initially resulting in delayed diagnosis. Objective: To evaluate the percentage of patients referred from General Practioners (GP) and Specialists for sleep studies and to characterize the clinical features in these patients. Methods: We performed polysomnography studies of patients that were referred from various sub-specialty clinics from July 2011 to August 2013. Results: A total of 152 cases were referred from different sub speciality clinic (Male =71, Female=81). 67(44.1%) patients were referred from GPS and 85 (55.9%) were referred various subspecialty clinics. Conclusion: Most of the clinicians do not suspect this important comorbidity in the beginning resulting in delayed diagnosis. General Practioners and other specialists need more awareness and knowledge regarding OSA to ensure early diagnoses and treatment.
Select your language of interest to view the total content in your interested language
Annals of Medical and Health Sciences Research received 24805 citations as per google scholar report
The Annals of Medical and Health Sciences Research is a monthly multidisciplinary medical journal.