Signal failure of type 2 comprehensive unattended sleep studies in patients with suspected respiratory sleep disordered breathing.

We designed this study to assess the signal failure and sensor loss of unattended type 2 comprehensive polysomnography (PSG) and compared that with in-lab attended PSG. Type 2 PSG was performed for 41 patients. The signal failure was estimated and compared to the signal failure in 60 patients for the in-lab PSGs. The signal failure in each individual electroencephalographic (EEG) channel, complete EEG signals, electro-oculography (EOG), naso-oral flow, and thoracic belt were significantly greater in the unattended sleep studies. The failure rate for the different signals ranged from 0.128 min in electrocardiography (EKG) to 67.36 min in the thoracic belt signal. However, that did not affect the success rate of the studies. Acceptable scorable data was available in 97% of the performed unattended PSGs. Unattended type 2 sleep studies can be performed for clinical use in the evaluation of sleep disordered breathing with low signal failure and sensor loss if the proper hook-up procedure was followed.