Attended Sleep Studies:  The Gold Standard
If there is a high suspicion of sleep apnea after evaluating a patient, a polysomnogram is indicated to establish a diagnosis, and to differentiate sleep apnea from other possible primary organic sleep pathologies.

Polysomnography, which requires an overnight stay in a sleep laboratory, is the optimum test for diagnosing sleep apnea. It includes evaluation of sleep by recording sleep stages via EEG, chin muscle tone and eye movement, airflow and ventilatory effort, EKG, body position, leg muscle activity, oxygen saturation and upper airway vibration. It is imperative that a sleep study be scored by someone with experience in polysomnography, and interpreted by someone with expertise in sleep medicine since an accurate diagnosis is critical to assuring proper treatment.

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