Reports from Wake Forest University Highlight Recent Findings in Sleep Apnea (Recognition of Sleep Apnea Is Increasing Analysis of Trends in Two…

Reports from Wake Forest University Highlight Recent Findings in Sleep Apnea (Recognition of Sleep Apnea Is Increasing Analysis of Trends in Two Large, Representative Databases of Outpatient Practice)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Data detailed on Respiratory Tract Diseases and Conditions - Sleep Apnea have been presented. According to news reporting out of Winston Salem, North Carolina, by NewsRx editors, research stated, "Little is known about recent trends in physician reporting of sleep apnea during outpatient practice visits. To assess trends in the frequency of adult outpatient visits for sleep apnea in the United States, the clinicians who provided those visits, and the characteristics of patients reported to have sleep apnea; and to assess whether the reporting of a diagnosis of sleep apnea varies across regions of the country as a function of body weight and insurance status."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Wake Forest University, "We reviewed annual stratified samples of patients identified as having sleep apnea during physician office visits in the U.S. National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey database, and during visits to hospital outpatient practices in the U.S. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey database, between 1993 and 2010. The aggregate data set included records of 838,000 ambulatory practice visits. During this 17-year period, survey reports of a diagnosis of sleep apnea increased 14.6-fold, from 420,000 to 6.37 million per year (P = 0.0002). Thirty-three percent were reported by primary care providers, 17% by pulmonologists, and 10% by otolaryngologists. Over the period of observation, reports of a diagnosis of sleep apnea by 'other groups' increased considerably (P < 0.001). The per capita rate of sleep apnea diagnoses per 1,000 persons per year differed across regions of the United States (P < 0.0001). Regions that reported a higher rate of sleep apnea appeared to be influenced by obesity (P < 0.001) and health insurance status (P < 0.005). Diagnoses of sleep apnea during outpatient visits to hospital-based and non-hospital-based practices in the United States were much more frequent in 2010 than in 1993, as reported by outpatient practice clinicians participating in national surveys. Although the majority of diagnoses of sleep apnea were reported by primary care providers, pulmonologists, and otolaryngologists (60%), there was a substantial increase in reports of sleep apnea by clinicians practicing other specialties during the study period."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Reporting of a diagnosis of sleep apnea varied by obesity prevalence and health insurance status across U.S. geographic regions."

For more information on this research see: Recognition of Sleep Apnea Is Increasing Analysis of Trends in Two Large, Representative Databases of Outpatient Practice. Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 2016;13(11):2027-2034. Annals of the American Thoracic Society can be contacted at: Amer Thoracic Soc, 25 Broadway, 18 Fl, New York, NY 10004, USA (see also Respiratory Tract Diseases and Conditions - Sleep Apnea).

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A.M. Namen, Wake Forest University, Sch Med, Div Pulm Crit Care & Allergy & Immunol, Dept. of Internal Med, Winston Salem, NC 27109, United States. Additional authors for this research include A. Chatterjee, K.E. Huang, S.R. Feldman and E.F. Haponik.

Keywords for this news article include: Winston Salem, North Carolina, United States, North and Central America, Respiratory Tract Diseases and Conditions, Diagnostics and Screening, Respiration Disorders, Health and Medicine, Health Insurance, Sleep Disorders, Sleep Apnea, Hospitals, Wake Forest University.

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