Dr Ching Li Chai-Coetzer from Flinders Uni devises simple questionaire for GPs to recognise sleep disorder

FEELING sleepy? Finding it hard to concentrate? Maybe you’re suffering from sleep apnoea. A simple questionnaire has been devised by a Flinders University expert to help GPs assess patients regarding sleep disorders.

01/06/15 Sleep and respiratory physician Dr Ching Li Chai-Coetzer attaches electrodes to volunteer Tracey Hutton at the Flinders medical centre. photo Calum Robertson

FEELING sleepy? Finding it hard to concentrate? Maybe you’re suffering from sleep apnoea.

Award-winning sleep and respiratory physician Dr Ching Li Chai-Coetzer says the condition is “a lot more common than people think”, affecting “one in four men and half as many women”.

The Flinders University researcher, based at the Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health in the Repatriation General Hospital, developed a simple questionnaire to help GPs to assess their patients.

TRY THE QUESTIONNAIRE BELOW

“A lot of people have sleep apnoea but don’t realise and haven’t been diagnosed,” she said.

“They often don’t report the symptoms to their doctor, and doctors may not ask about sleep apnoea, so a lot of people are undiagnosed and untreated in the community.”

The simple screening tool called OSA50 has been thoroughly tested, with the results published in a peer-reviewed journal.

It identifies people at high risk, who then need to consider if they also have symptoms such as daytime sleepiness and problematic high blood pressure.

“Sleep apnoea is a condition where people have repeated obstruction to their upper airway during sleep,” Dr Chai-Coetzer said.

“This leads to frequent arousal or waking from sleep — drops in their oxygen levels and sleep disruption.

“As a result many people may develop problems with daytime sleepiness, impaired concentration during the day, increased risk of motor vehicle accidents, and there are associations with other longer term health consequences if it is untreated, so things like cardiovascular disease, strokes, possibly diabetes as well.”

The full cost to the economy has been estimated at $21.2 billion a year in the 2011 Deloitte Access Economics report, Reawakening Australia. That figure included healthcare costs, lost productivity, road accidents and work-related accidents. The authors suggested the “costs may be underestimated given the prevalence of people experiencing symptoms ... is substantially higher than the proportion of people who are diagnosed”.

But sleep apnoea can be treated and in some cases, cured, so it’s worth seeing a doctor or sleep physician.

Dr Chai-Coetzer evaluated the clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness of a simplified model of care by GPs and community-based nurses, and showed it could be just as good as seeing a sleep physician.

She is just back from winning an international award for her research to date and future career potential, at the American Thoracic Society conference in Denver, Colorado US.

“It was a real honour for me, getting that international recognition for the importance of the work that I’ve been involved in,” she said.

“It may also help attract future research funding.”

The Adelaide Institute for Sleep Health (www.adelaidesleephealth.org.au) is recruiting volunteers for three trials investigating new treatments for sleep apnoea.

ARE YOU AT RISK? TRY THE QUESTIONNAIRE

Obesity: Waist circumference* — Males >102cm or Females >88cm If yes, score 3 points

Snoring: Has your snoring ever bothered other people? If yes, score 3 points

Apneas: Has anyone noticed that you stop breathing during your sleep? If yes, score 2 points

50: Are you aged 50 years or over? If yes, score 2 points

TOTAL SCORE: ... / 10 points

The score which indicates “high risk” is 5/10 or more.

* Waist circumference (cm) can be directly measured at the level of the umbilicus with a measuring tape; or an easier way to determine this is to ask people about their pants size (i.e. Men 102cm [40 inches] and greater; Women size 16 and greater).

Anyone with a positive score (total = 5 or more) plus symptoms of excessive daytime sleepiness and/or high blood pressure that has been difficult to control (i.e. poorly controlled despite use of more than two anti-hypertensive medications) should seek medical advice and consider further investigation for obstructive sleep apnea.

Do you have excessive daytime sleepiness?

The Epworth Sleepiness Scale is commonly used by sleep physicians and GPs to determine whether someone is experiencing significant daytime sleepiness. A score of 10 or more (out of a possible total of 24 points) is usually indicative of excessive sleepiness. Download at

http://www.adelaidesleephealth.org.au/sleep_disorders

Originally published as Dr Ching Li Chai-Coetzer from Flinders Uni devises simple questionaire for GPs to recognise sleep disorder