Screening for sleep apnoea: achieving both sensitivity and specificity

Hillman, David R

doi:10.5694/mja2.50242

Topics

Medicare criteria may hinder timely diagnosis and treatment of patients

This issue of the MJA includes a timely analysis of the value of questionnaires in screening for obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in primary care.1 It has particular relevance for contemporary Australian health care, given the new Medicare provisions for pre‐test OSA screening. The study by Senaratna and colleagues is valuable for health care providers and administrators because it illustrates the limitations of questionnaires for screening, let alone for diagnosing, OSA.

1 Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, WA
2 Centre for Sleep Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA

Correspondence: David.Hillman@uwa.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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