Electronic Nose Sniffs Out Sleep Apnea Disorder

A novel technology is being used to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea. With the help of an electronic nose, one can detect the presence of molecules in the breath of a patient.

Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep. People with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times. This means the brain and the rest of the body may not get enough oxygen.

Prior to this the gold standard was used to identify sleep apnea is an overnight sleep test. This is technically demanding, time-consuming and cost-intensive.

Till date electronic nose devices was used to distinguish a number of diseases and this was done by analyzing the pattern of volatile organic compounds in breath samples.

This is the first study that tried to show that the presence of sleep apnea can be confirmed with the help of electronic nose.

For the study the researchers analyzed the breath of 40 sleep apnea patients and 20 healthy persons.

Sleep apnea is associated with inflammation in the upper airways, which the researchers suggested could be detected by analysis of the exhaled breath of the patients. 

The study also aims to assess whether the electronic nose could detect the effects of the standard treatment for sleep apnea - continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).

The researchers performed questionnaires and sleep examinations to confirm sleep apnea in 40 patients. They also took throat samples of patients to measure any improvement in their condition following treatment with CPAP. 

The researchers noticed that the electronic nose could detect the presence of sleep apnea with a sensitivity of 93 percent.

Lead author, Dr Timm Greulich, from the Marburg Hospital in Germany, said: "This is the first time an electronic nose has been tested in the setting of sleep apnea diagnosis. The electronic nose could be useful in two ways. First, it can rule out the disease in a low prevalence population. Secondly, in a population with a high risk of sleep apnea, the device could be used to help decide who would need to undergo an overnight sleep examination. Following these results, we foresee that the use of an electronic nose could reduce costs by more appropriately selecting patients who require the sleep examination."

European Respiratory Journal Associate Editor, Professor Ramon Farre, commented: "This is an interesting study, adding to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that electronic noses are a future potential tool for the detection of respiratory diseases. Although the results are encouraging, it is important to acknowledge the limitations in this kind of statistical analysis and it is not yet definite proof that this is an accurate diagnostic tool. It is, however, the first study to consider the application of an electronic nose for sleep apnea and we look forward to seeing future research expanding on this important initial research."