Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
Can Respir J. 2010 Jul-Aug;17(4):170-4. doi: 10.1155/2010/420275.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a highly prevalent disorder that is associated with significant patient morbidity and societal burden. In general, wait times for health care in Ontario are believed to be lengthy; however, many diseases lack specific corroborative wait time data.
To characterize wait times for OSA care in Ontario.
Cross-sectional survey. A survey tool was designed and validated to question physicians involved in OSA care about the length of the wait times their patients experience while traversing a simplified model of OSA care. The survey was sent to all otolaryngologists and respirologists in the province, as well as to a random sample of provincial family physicians.
Patients waited a mean of 11.6 months to initiate medical therapy (continuous positive airway pressure), and 16.2 months to initiate surgical therapy. Sleep laboratory availability appeared to be the major restriction in the patient management continuum, with each additional sleep laboratory in a community associated with a 20% decrease in overall wait times. Smaller community sizes were paradoxically associated with shorter wait times for sleep studies (P<0.01) but longer wait times for OSA surgery (P<0.05). Regression analysis yielded an r2 of 0.046; less than 5% of the wait time variance could be explained by the simplified model.
Patients experienced considerable wait times when undergoing management for OSA. This has implications for both individual patient care and public health in general.
阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）是一种高发疾病，与患者的高发病率和社会负担密切相关。一般来说，安大略省的医疗保健等待时间被认为是漫长的；然而，许多疾病缺乏具体的等待时间数据。
描述安大略省 OSA 治疗的等待时间。
横断面调查。设计并验证了一种调查工具，用于询问参与 OSA 治疗的医生，他们的患者在经历简化的 OSA 治疗模型时的等待时间长度。该调查向该省的所有耳鼻喉科医生和呼吸科医生以及随机抽取的省级家庭医生发送。
患者平均等待 11.6 个月开始接受药物治疗（持续气道正压通气），16.2 个月开始接受手术治疗。睡眠实验室的可用性似乎是患者管理连续体中的主要限制因素，社区中每增加一个睡眠实验室，整体等待时间就会减少 20%。较小的社区规模与睡眠研究的等待时间缩短（P<0.01）但与 OSA 手术的等待时间延长（P<0.05）相关。回归分析的 r2 值为 0.046；简化模型只能解释不到 5%的等待时间差异。
患者在接受 OSA 治疗时经历了相当长的等待时间。这对患者的个人护理和一般公共卫生都有影响。
