Home cardiorespiratory polygraphy studies in children: A new service

Background Cardiorespiratory polygraphy (CRP) is used to diagnose sleep disordered breathing. UK standard practice is for inpatient CRP but this is costly and often inconvenient. In the research setting home CRP provides adequate data (Moss, D. el al. Pediatr Res 2005; 58: 958-65). Aims and objectives To determine the success and acceptability of a new clinical home CRP service . Methods Families self-selected inpatient or home CRP using the SomnoTouch (SMed, UK) device. It records data on airflow, chest/abdominal wall movement, oxygen saturations, video and sound alongside transcutaneous CO 2 recording (SenTec, Switzerland). A sleep physiologist taught families how to use the equipment and telephone advice was offered until 11pm. Success was defined as 4 hours of artefact free data with an episode of active sleep. Families completed a feedback form. This included a Likert scale from 1 (very easy) to 5 (very difficult) on ease of using the equipment. Results From 03/2015 to 01/2016 71 studies were performed (mean age 8.0 yrs [range 0.4 - 19.5 yrs]). 24 children had had previous CRP (9 home, 15 hospital). 57 (80%) of all CRP were successful, increasing to 22/24 (92%) if the child had had a previous CRP. Of 14 failed studies 3 were due to poor equipment tolerance and 11 due to insufficient data. 50 feedback forms were returned. 32 families (64%) rated equipment use very easy or easy. Only 3 (6%) rated it difficult. 25/28 (89%) responses stated they would prefer a home CRP in future. Conclusions Families prefer home CRP. It is a useful adjunct to a hospital based clinical service. It was very successful in children who had a study previously, and may be most beneficial for children having repeated clinical studies.