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A-Fib and Sleep Apnea: At-Home Testing Approved by FDA
Many patients with Atrial Fibrillation also suffer with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Diagnosis of OSA and its treatment is essential if you have A-Fib.
What is OSA?
If you have sleep apnea, relaxation of throat muscles combine with a narrowed airway to interrupt breathing. The episodes of breathing cessation can last more than twenty seconds (reducing oxygen to the brain).
Nearly 22 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea, and more than half of cases go undiagnosed.
In-Lab Testing
To determine if you have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), you must be tested.
Conventional testing for sleep apnea has been done at a sleep lab at a medical center or facility. You have a dozen or so electrical sensors attached to your body. You then try to sleep in a hospital-like environment. The people doing the testing may interrupt you during the night. At the end of the testing (at 6 am), you don’t feel rested at all.
At-Home Testing for Sleep Apnea Approved by the FDA
Home testing was FDA approved in 2022 and available by prescription.
A home sleep apnea test is an overnight, unattended study performed in the comfort of your own home. You pick up the kit or it is mailed to you.
While not as detailed as an in-clinic sleep study (it only measures breathing, not actual sleep), at-home sleep apnea testing can be used to diagnose or monitor obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
At-home sleep apnea tests are best suited for people who are suspected of having moderate to severe sleep apnea that isn’t complicated by other disorders.
Home testing is available by doctor prescription. There are some testing companies who offer their own physicians to evaluate your test results. (If you don’t have a prescription, I wonder if the cost is covered by the patient’s health insurance.)
Home Testing Not for Everyone
For those with a more severe sleep apnea, an in-lab sleep experience may be required to rule out other medical conditions. Unlike a home sleep test, which looks only for sleep apnea, an overnight sleep study checks for conditions like insomnia, restless legs syndrome, periodic limb movements disorder, narcolepsy, and sleepwalking.
Editor’s Comments:
Personal experience: My wife, Patti, has had sleep apnea for years (but not A-Fib). She’s had in-labs testing and last October 2022 had an at-home sleep apnea test. I went by a UCLA facility to pick up the kit for her.
She carefully read the instructions and watched a how-to YouTube video by her healthcare provider. She set it all up and slept through the night quite comfortably (She’s been sleeping with a CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure) facemask for years.) I returned the kit the next day. The results were then sent to her doctor.
Home-testing option: The at-home testing for Sleep Apnea may be a major advance in treating A-Fib. It may now be much easier, faster, (and perhaps cheaper) to test for Sleep Apnea which is one of the most common causes or symptoms of A-Fib (comorbidity).
