STOP-Bang and Smartwatch’s Two-Step Approach for Obstructive Sleep Apnea Screening

Abstract

Background and Objectives Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with various health risks, including hypertension, cerebrovascular disease, myocardial infarction, diabetes, cognitive impairment, and all-cause mortality. While overnight polysomnography (PSG) is the gold standard for diagnosing OSA, it is costly and time-consuming. The STOP-Bang questionnaire is a convenient tool for OSA screening, but its high sensitivity comes at the expense of low specificity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of combining the STOP-Bang questionnaire and a smartwatch capable of measuring oxygen saturation in screening for OSA.Subjects and Method Of the patients scheduled for PSG due to OSA, 109 patients voluntarily participated in the study by filling out a STOP-Bang questionnaire during their first visit and wearing a smartwatch during PSG.Results There were 80 males and 29 females, with the patients’ mean age of 45±13.3 years. Based on the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), 19 patients (17.4%) were normal, 28 (25.7%) had mild OSA, 23 (21.1%) had moderate OSA, and 39 (35.8%) had severe OSA. When using the AHI threshold of AHI ≥15/h, the STOP-Bang alone showed sensitivity of 85.5% and specificity of 61.7%. Combining the STOP-Bang questionnaire with a smartwatch resulted in a slight decrease in sensitivity and a significant increase in specificity, yielding the values of 80.5% and 84.4%, respectively.Conclusion A two-step approach using the STOP-Bang and a smartwatch was implemented to enhance the diagnostic accuracy of screening OSA.