Howarth, Timothy

Hedger, Joe

Chen, Winnie

Garg, Himanshu

Heraganahally, Subash

2024-11-21

This pilot study investigated a new simplified OSA screening tool that could be used in primary care/GP settings - the "GPSS" tool - "General Practice Sleep Scale" and compared against common existing OSA screening tools.A convenience sample of patients attending the respiratory and sleep clinic in the Northern Territory of Australia were included if they completed the GPSS prior to undergoing a diagnostic polysomnography. The GPSS contained 9 questions to provide information on: sex, age, body mass index, neck circumference, snoring, witnessed apnoeas, morning tiredness, daytime sleepiness and presence of hypertension/diabetes/heart disease/depression. Presence of OSA was defined as an apnoea-hypopnoea index of ≥15/hour. The GPSS scoring was developed via log odds of regression predictions for each GPSS question upon OSA.159 patients (65 % male, median age 45 years) were enrolled. A minimum score of 1 was assigned to GPSS questions, up to 5 for the strongest predictor (neck circumference). The median total GPSS score was 13 (IQR 9, 16) (maximum 22) and correlated strongly with OSA (AUC 0.812 (95 % CI 0.744, 0.881)). Categorised into low (0-7), moderate (8-13) or high risk (>13), a moderate or severe score had sensitivity 100, specificity 34.9 %. The GPSS significantly outperformed the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Berlin questionnaire and OSA-50, and was comparable but slightly improved against the STOP-Bang.The proposed GPSS tool could be of use in general practice settings. Further prospective research is warranted to test the applicability and adaptability of the GPSS tool in wider population settings.

Darwin Respiratory and Sleep Health, Darwin Private Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; Department of Technical Physics, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.

Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public Health, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Flinders University, College of Medicine and Public Health, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; General Practice, Danila Dilba, Aboriginal Health Service, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.

Darwin Respiratory and Sleep Health, Darwin Private Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; School of Medicine, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. Electronic address: Subash.heraganahally@nt.gov.au.

Sleep Med . 2024 Nov 21:125:168-176. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2024.11.022. Online ahead of print.

1878-5506

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39612716/?otool=iaurydwlib

https://hdl.handle.net/10137/13851

Clinical tools

Diagnosis

Differential

Outcome assessment

Practice management

Risk assessment

Sleep disorders

General Practice Sleep Scale - The "GPSS" - A proposed new tool for use in General Practice for risk assessment of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea.

Journal Article

Publication