According to recent reports, sleep disorders affect 30% of the adult population and
5-10% of children. Obstructive Sleep Apnea Hypopnea Syndrome (OSA) has a considerable
epidemiological impact and demand for consultation is growing in our community. Therefore,
it is necessary to know the principles of interpretation of diagnostic methods. A
suspicion of OSA requires confirmation. According to the guidelines of the Argentine
Association of Respiratory Medicine, polysomnography (PSG) is the gold standard for
OSA diagnosis, while home sleep testing (HST) can be accepted as a comparatively effective
method depending on the clinical situation of the patient. This article questions
the use of AHI (apnea-hypopnea index) as the only measurement needed to diagnose OSA
and assess its severity. In fact, it is surprising that, despite the large mass of
data analyzed during sleep studies, current practices only focus on AHI. More than
four decades have passed since OSA was first described. Our tendency to oversimplify
complex conditions may prevent us from gaining a deeper and more thorough understanding
of OSA. The development and validation of OSA severity scoring systems based on multiple
parameters is still a pending issue.
Sleep Apnea Syndromes - Severity of Illness Index - Sleep Disorder
