Worried About Sleep Apnea? Home-based Testing is Now the Norm

Diagnosing sleep apnea is less complicated that many people realize and is becoming more popular, the Harvard Health blog explains.

In the past, diagnosing this condition always required an overnight stay in a sleep lab. “Today, about 60% to 70% of sleep studies for suspected sleep apnea are done using home-based tests,” says Dr. Sogol Javaheri, a sleep specialist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. If your symptoms suggest moderate to severe sleep apnea and you don’t have any other significant medical problems, home sleep monitoring is almost as accurate for detecting apnea as a night in a sleep lab, she says.

One main advantage of home-based testing is the cost, which runs between $150 and $500, compared to testing done in a sleep laboratory, which usually tops $1,000. But the best part about home sleep test is the convenience. You sleep in your own bed, not an unfamiliar hospital bed, and you do the test based on your schedule. 

Get the full story at health.harvard.edu.

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