The Home Sleep Apnea Test (HSAT) is a good screening test: Dr. Hindol Dasgupta

Shahid Akhter, editor, ETHealthworld, spoke to Dr. Hindol Dasgupta, Consultant Respiratory Disorders at Broad View Clinic, Kolkata to know about the limitations and challenges in sleep disorders.

Sleep disorders prevalence:
We have just started to be aware of this disease in India whereas in the West it started more than 20 years ago and we are going through the same curve and the awareness is beginning. This will be a steep rise because we have got a lot of patients who are suffering from obstructive sleep apnea.

In America, the prevalence of this disease is between 20 and 30 per cent in males and between 10 and 15 per cent in females. There have been some studies in Southeast Asia and it is been learnt that the statistics are more or less the same as it is in America.

We have a huge patient population who suffer a lot of health complications because of this dreadful disease. People are still unaware of them so we have to try hard to get the awareness up as quickly as possible.


Sleep disorders challenges:
Public awareness is the biggest challenge and we need the support of medical fraternity, government sector and media. All of them should start educating both the public and the medical fraternity of this dreadful disease.

Also, we have the challenge of availability of facilities to diagnose this condition and also its treatment as it can be really costly.

Statistics say that motor accidents are two to three times more among untreated obstructive sleep apnea patients. So you can imagine how many accidents we can avoid if we can detect this disease among patients, who are usually young adults.

Sleep deprivation impact:
The sleep deprivation can mimic as obstructive sleep apnea and if I have this disease and have left it untreated, my performance will be below par and that can cost dearly to not only my family, or myself but also to the country.

There are only a few centres in Kolkata that have full polysomnography lab and I go to one of them. I have access to a lab but it is costly for most of my patients and therefore, I have to be really careful as to who I select for that test.

Sleep disorder latest breakthroughs:
We are still dependent on a lab sleep test, which is the gold standard, and also on the Home Sleep Apnea Test (HSAT). The Home Sleep Apnea Test (HSAT) is a good screening test and both have got advantages and disadvantages. Most of the population in the UK are screened by HSAT. But we have to understand the limitation of the home sleep test.

If the patient has got the cardiorespiratory disease, then it is better for me to convince the patient to have a full lab polysomnogram. The diagnosis still hasn’t got a major breakthrough.

In the treatment part, we still are dependent on positive airway pressure by CPAP.

There are only a few trials that have come up like a nasal but they have not been tried in big trials. If any of these trials become positive and in large randomized controlled trials, we will get to know and the cost possibly will come down.