Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Bronchoscopy

The prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in Republic of Korea is 27% and 16% in men and women aged 40-69 years. Up to 93% of women and 82% of men with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) remain undiagnosed. Polysomnography, the gold standard, is time consuming and costly. Patients with undiagnosed OSA may experience obstructive episodes during procedures with conscious sedation.

STOP-Bang questionnaire is the validated questionnaire to screen patients for undiagnosed OSA in the preoperative setting. It has high sensitivity (92.9%) for predicting patients with moderate to severe OSA.

Previous studies reported that STOP-Bang questionnaire predicted cardiopulmonary events during advanced endoscopic procedures such as endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and endoscopic ultrasound. However, there have been no studies regarding the risk for sedation-related cardiopulmonary events in patients with undiagnosed OSA undergoing bronchoscopy. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence of high-risk patients for OSA by a screening questionnaire, and to determine whether the questionnaire could predict patients who are at risk for cardiopulmonary events during bronchoscopy with conscious sedation.