OSA in SMI report available

Oximetry Screening Program to Detect Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Severe Mental Illness - Focus on Patient Wellbeing

The following is abstracted from the report. Please contact us with respect to obtaining a copy.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Rationale

Sleep breathing disorders (SBD) are highly prevalent. Over 30% of middle-aged populations have moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (1,2,3). Recent reviews have reported SDB is prevalent but under-recognised in the psychiatric population (4). The disorder is more common in males and strongly associated with central obesity.

• With no treatment, severe hypoxemia and fragmented sleep in this group of patients results in severe daytime sleepiness, impaired cognition, worsening mood, and is associated with increased cardio-metabolic disease (5).
• A severe form of SDB, obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) (defined as awake SaO2% <92% and a pattern of sustained oxygen desaturation with daytime hypercapnic respiratory failure) commonly progresses to right ventricular failure, high rates of recurrent hospitalization, and premature mortality.
• Severe mental illness (SMI) populations form a severely disadvantaged group in the health system with much higher mortality than the general population and often ill-defined clinical pathways of care.
• The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Schizophrenia Clinical Practice Guidelines (4), and the Physical Comorbidity Consensus Statement (6) emphasize the importance of screening patients with SMI for SDB.

.... and so on (see the report)