Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is very difficult to diagnose. There are many symptoms including loud snoring, dry mouth, and just being constantly tired. Most people do not know they have it and try many things to get a better night’s sleep with no avail. The challenge becomes critical to life especially for cardiac patients with many professionals not being aware of this.
There are three types of sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea is the most common with throat muscles relaxing and obstructing the airway, making the person to become half-awake hundreds of times a night to allow themselves to breath. Some gasp, others snore loudly during this process. Other individuals have larger necks or smaller throats that allow throats to become more obstructed much more easily. The majority of sufferers are obese and help exacerbate the situation although people that weight train can also be susceptible to the same process.
Smoking, drinking and illness can also cause obstruction from inflammation. Tonsillitis for example can cause sleep apnea.
Sleep Apnea Diagnosis Challenges
In the US alone there are 33,000 cardiologists with 92 million cardiac patients in the US alone. Over half of them suffer from sleep apnea and over 80% of these don’t know they have it.
Furthermore, treating sleep apnea reduces stroke and sudden cardiac death by up to 50%. Reduce atrial fibrillation after treatment by 42% and reduced rehospitalization and cardiovascular mortality by 20%.
The reality is that in the US there are only around 5000 qualified sleep specialists and with long waiting lists for both assessment by them and specialist polysomnography (PSG) sleep observation spaces being even rarer the most people never get referrals with specialists giving up. PSG techniques use a multitude of invasive technologies that inhibit sleep for sufferers being observed in strange conditions that do not reflect the sleep the patient normally receives. This can increase the time for accurate diagnosis not to mention severely disrupt the patient’s life.
Home Sleep Apnea Test (HSAT) Devices
The great news is that an inline with insurance companies that picked up on the cost saving potential are HSAT devices. Modern technology has allowed comparable specialist testing to be conducted in a patient’s home using devices as small as a wrist watch with an integrated finger sensor. No more expensive facilities are required or time away. Additionally, sleep specialists no do not have pain points of lack of potential places to refer sufferers to and the patient can get a better night’s sleep at home without people watching them through a camera. The equipment itself is also cheap should a person want one or more next to the bed for monitoring their situation.
HSAT systems are also not isolated, and like most technology these days allow for autogenerated reports to be straight to the sufferer’s physician. This is great in both the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment stages of sleep apnea.
HSAT Device Supplier for Cardiology Practices
HSAT device suppliers for cardiology practices are great as they can help cardiology practices improve their patient metrics. As mentioned, treating sleep apnea reduces stroke and sudden cardiac death by up to 50%. Reduce atrial fibrillation after treatment by 42% and reduced rehospitalization and cardiovascular mortality by 20%. This means that the patient and the department save money on patient care and resources required. In the current environment there is no slack in the system to allow anything but efficient care. By reducing re-hospitalization those resource can be used elsewhere increasing the profitability of the practice. The great news is that these devices are cheap and patients can email autogenerated reports to you automatically during the morning. As such not only are you spending less time on appointments for existing patients but you can spend that time with other patients, upskilling or business maturation process.