Practice Parameters for the Use of Portable Monitoring Devices in the Investigation of Suspected Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Adults

Abstract

Type 3 and 4 PM devices cannot score sleep and, therefore, do not meet some current Medicare guidelines. The use of PM devices is not recommended for general-population screening or in the absence of a pretest probability of the patient having a diagnosis of OSA, for complaints other than those associated with OSA, without review of raw data during interpretation, by physicians without familiarity with their use and limitations, and without trained personnel to perform technical scoring. Future research should address the use of PM devices in patients with comorbid conditions; non-White patients and women; larger, better-controlled studies; studies focused on the use of Type 2 and 3 devices; studies focusing on decision making and outcomes rather than simple classification using arbitrary cutoffs; and studies that seek to elucidate cost-effectiveness data on the use of PM devices.