Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder which occurs when there is a complete or partial block of the airflow during sleep. One of the most common risk factors for this disorder are obesity and age and as they are increasing so is the occurrence of obstructive sleep apnea. This has made everyone, including professionals more aware of this sleep disorder. Hence, there is an increasing demand for sleep testing, and an integral element in sleep studies is pulse oximetry.

Polysomnogram, PSG, is a full sleep study which is performed in a clinic or a sleep laboratory and consists of a number of sensors. The PSG also features pulse oximeters as an integral part, which are necessary for the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea and for eliminating sleep apnea as a cause for sleep disruption related to other conditions. It is very common that sleep conditions occur in combination and thus, it’s crucial to monitor oxygen saturation and the movement and sleep stages.

Pulse oximetry is one of the best ways to determine oxygen saturation. The device, the pulse oximeter is attached to an earlobe, a finger or a toe for the sleep study. However, there are also oximeters which detect the reflection of transmitted light from the same surface to measure oxygen saturation and can be placed on the forehead.

Nevertheless, blood oxygenation should always be included in the recording of data on sleep studies. In fact, pulse oximetry is crucial in sleep studies and keep reading to find out why.

Sleep studies can either be unattended, performed in a sleep laboratory/clinic or at home, or attended, with a registered sleep technician present. Due to the cost of having a sleep technician during the study, most at-home studies are unattended. There are four types of sleep studies:

• Type I: full PSG (monitoring at least seven channels), in a sleep laboratory/clinic, attended;
• Type II: full PSG (at least seven channels), unattended;
• Type III: a device with four to seven channels, unattended;
• Type IV: a device with one to three channels (typically including pulse oximeter), unattended.

Using pulse oximetry to diagnose sleep apnea works better if the condition is more severe. Moreover, if a person is undergoing an unattended sleep study, it’s recommended that the home oximetry studies should be followed up with full in-laboratory PSG. There are a number of pulse oximeters in the market which can continuously monitor Spo2, heart rate and store the data. Thus, these are recommended for a Type IV portable monitoring sleep study.

Using an appropriate sensor is essential for getting the best results from sleep oximetry. Hence, it is best if you opt for soft rubber finger cap sensors for a sleep study. The sensors are placed and guaranteed with the additional  piece of tape, or a small flat sensor that is attached to the finger with an adhesive wrap.