Diagnosis of Sleep Apnoea

To confirm that you have sleep apnoea, and also to determine if it is the obstructive or the central kind, it is necessary to have a sleep study. It may be possible to have a partial study at home, but generally this is done at a sleep clinic or in a sleep laboratory.

The sleep clinic is designed to resemble an ensuited bedroom so that the person feels as comfortable as possible. The room will be fitted with an infrared camera so that the sleep technician can make observations about your sleep that are included as part of your diagnosis.

To help determine if sleep apnoea is present, and what type it is, the person wears straps around their chest and abdomen, and also many wires about their body (e.g. face, throat, finger and legs) that feed information about the person’s movement and breathing to a computer for analysis.

The collated information is used by a specialist to determine if snoring and sleep apnoea are present, which kind of sleep apnoea is the problem, and how severe it is. From this data a recommendation will be made in regard to the best possible treatment for you.