An American College of Cardiology article review examines a study of hospitalized adults who met criteria for obstructive sleep apnea and reported lower sleep quality and worse in-hospital sleep duration.
In this prospective cohort study at a tertiary care center conducted over 36 months, general medicine inpatients over 50 years of age with intact cognition were invited to participate. Exclusion criteria included prior history of sleep apnea, non-ambulatory patients, non-English-speaking patients, and those who were critically ill or frequently hospitalized. OSA risk was estimated using the Berlin questionnaire. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Karolinska Sleep Log, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index tools were used to ascertain subjective sleep quality while the patients were hospitalized. Sleep quality was objectively measured by wristwatch-like activity monitors (actigraphy) that were worn by patients throughout their hospital stay. Demographic information and hospital stay details were obtained from chart surveys. A sample of internal medicine resident physicians was surveyed for their knowledge and practice patterns in screening inpatients for OSA.
