Part of quality of care is not traumatizing children. At best, my patients report that a night in the sleep center is uncomfortable and difficult. Currently, this is the only way to do a sleep study with an esophageal probe. My patients do not mind the portable studies that are performed in the patient's home, but getting the results from these studies delays treatment by at least 2 months, since we need to obtain authorization, schedule the study, get the results, and discuss the results with the family. There are also no studies showing that in-home polysomnogram results for a pediatric patient are comparable in accuracy to inpatient study results.
Studies show that long-term compliance with continuous positive airway pressure is lousy for adults.
It can only be worse for children. I could not agree more. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. Sleep studies are expensive, are not readily accessible, can be uncomfortable, and can delay treatment significantly. I look forward to the day when sleep studies will be inexpensive, accurate, and readily accessible and hope to work with Pelayo et al to make this happen.