Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine
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Given the pathogenesis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), anesthesiologists may be in a unique position to rapidly identify patients who are at risk for undiagnosed OSA in the perioperative period. Identification is the first step in prompt diagnosis and potential prevention of OSA related comorbidities. Patients who exhibit unanticipated difficult mask ventilation (DMV) during induction of general anesthesia may be at risk of having undiagnosed OSA. ⋯ In this study, difficult mask ventilation was predictive of undiagnosed OSA. Anesthesiologists may be in a unique position to identify patients at risk for OSA and prevention of related comorbidities.
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Various models and questionnaires have been developed for screening specific populations for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as defined by the apnea/hypopnea index (AHI); however, almost every method is based upon dichotomizing a population, and none function ideally. We evaluated the possibility of using the STOP-Bang model (SBM) to classify severity of OSA into 4 categories ranging from none to severe. ⋯ The STOP-Bang model may be useful to categorize OSA severity, triage patients for diagnostic evaluation or exclude from harm.