Utility of the Epworth sleepiness scale: Hindi version in identifying obstructive sleep apnoea in adult patients with symptoms of sleep disordered breathing in a tertiary care centre

ABSTRACT

Background: Excessive daytime sleepiness is a key symptom in patients with sleep- breathing disorders (SBD) and represents a new major public health issue due to its repercussions. The ESS is a simple and validated method, which measures the probability of falling asleep in a variety of situations. Aims and objectives is to study the accuracy of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) questionnaire in the identification of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) in patients with symptoms of sleep disordered breathing in a tertiary care centre.Methods: This present study was conducted in the Department of Respiratory medicine, New Medical College, Kota on 70 adult patients who presented with symptoms of Sleep Disordered Breathing and underwent Type 2 Polysomnography after answering Epworth sleepiness score in Hindi Language.Results: Epworth sleepiness scale has predicted excessive day time sleepiness in 60% of study subjects with ESS score more than 10 taken as cut off. Mean value for ESS in the study was 10.78. 35.71% of the patients had severe OSA diagnosed by polysomnography and 30% patients had moderate OSA. Mild OSA was detected in 7.14% patients. Sensitivity of the ESS score >10 in diagnosing OSA was found to be 72.5%. Specificity of the scale was 73.6%.There was significant correlation between ESS score and diagnosis of OSA (p value <0.001).Conclusions: The study concludes that ESS has got good relevance in predicting OSA in patients with sleep disordered breathing.