Management of sleep apnea: concordance between nonreference and reference centers.

Background: When a disorder is as prevalent as sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS), different medical levels and approaches should be involved in facilitating the diagnosis, at least, of patients with symptoms that disrupt social or working life, and of risk groups such as professional drivers. We sought to analyze the degree of concordance between management and treatment decisions for SAHS patients at sleep reference centers (RCs) and at non-RCs (NRCs).

Materials And Methods: Eighty-eight consecutive patients with suspected SAHS were referred by family doctors to the NRC.