@entity27 ( @entity27 ) is traditionally diagnosed using overnight polysomnography. Decision rules may provide an alternative to polysomnography. A consecutive series of @entity1 referred to a tertiary sleep center underwent prospective evaluation with the upper airway physical examination protocol, followed by determination of the respiratory disturbance index using a portable monitor. Seventy-five @entity1 were evaluated with the upper airway physical examination protocol. Historic predictors included age, snoring, witnessed @entity386 , and @entity101 . Physical examination-based predictors included body mass index, neck circumference, mandibular protrusion, thyro-rami distance, sterno-mental distance, sterno-mental displacement, thyro-mental displacement, cricomental space, pharyngeal grade, Sampsoon-Young classification, and over-bite. A decision rule was developed using three predictors: a cricomental space of 1.5 cm or less, a pharyngeal grade of more than II, and the presence of overbite. In @entity1 with all three predictors (17%), the decision rule had a positive predictive value of 95% (95% confidence interval [CI], 75-100%) and a negative predictive value of 49% (95% CI, 35-63%). A cricomental space of more than 1.5 cm (27% of @entity1 ) excluded @entity27 (negative predictive value of 100%, 95% CI, 75-100%). Comparable performance was obtained in a validation sample of 50 @entity1 referred for diagnostic testing. This decision rule provides a simple, reliable, and accurate method of identifying a subset @entity1 with, and perhaps more importantly, without @entity27 .

A decision rule for diagnostic testing in XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity27 :: ('MESH:D020181', 'Disease') :: ['Obstructive sleep apnea', 'OSA'] @entity101 :: ('MESH:D006973', 'Disease') :: ['hypertension'] @entity386 :: ('MESH:D001049', 'Disease') :: ['apneas']
@entity27 :: (MESH:D020181,Disease) :: ['obstructive sleep apnea']
