Author/Authors :
Rong, Yi Guanganmen Hospital - Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China , Wang, Shihan Guanganmen Hospital - Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China , Wang, Hui School of Management - Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China , Wang, Feng Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine - Beijing Chaoyang Hospital - Beijing Institute of Respiratory Medicine and Capital Medical University, Beijing, China , Tang, Jingjing Guanganmen Hospital - Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China , Kang, Xiuhong Guanganmen Hospital - Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China , Li, Guangxi Guanganmen Hospital - Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China , Liu, Zhiguo Guanganmen Hospital - Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
Abstract :
Background. There is a growing number of patients with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) referred to sleep clinics. Therefore, a
simple but useful screening tool is urgent. The NoSAS score, containing only five items, has been developed and validated in
population-based studies. Aim. To evaluate the performance of the NoSAS score for the screening of SDB patients from a sleep
clinic in China, and to compare the predictive value of the NoSAS score with the STOP-Bang questionnaire. Methods. We enrolled
consecutive patients from a sleep clinic who had undergone apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) testing by type III portable monitor
device at the hospital and completed the STOP-Bang questionnaire. +e NoSAS score was assessed by reviewing medical records.
Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and area under the receiver operating characteristic
curve (AUC) of both screening tools were calculated at different AHI cutoffs to compare the performance of SDB screening.
Results. Of the 596 eligible patients (397 males and 199 female), 514 were diagnosed with SDB. When predicting overall (AHI ≥ 5),
moderate-to-severe (AHI ≥ 15), and severe (AHI ≥ 30) SDB, the sensitivity and specificity of the NoSAS score were 71.2, 80.4, and
83.1% and 62.4, 49.3, and 40.7%, respectively. At all AHI cutoffs, the AUC ranged from 0.688 to 0.715 for the NoSAS score and
from 0.663 to 0.693 for the STOP-Bang questionnaire. The NoSAS score had the largest AUC (0.715, 95% CI: 0.655–0.775) of
diagnosing SDB at AHI cutoff of ≥5 events/h. NoSAS performed better in discriminating moderate-to-severe SDB than STOPBang with a marginally significantly higher AUC (0.697 vs. 0.663, P = 0.046). Conclusion. The NoSAS score had good performance
on the discrimination of SDB patients in sleep clinic and can be utilized as an effective screening tool in clinical practice.
Keywords :
NoSAS Score , Validation , Screening , Sleep-Disordered
