stic procedures, most patients with OSAS in the community remain undiagnosed and untreated. In the primary care sector there is considerable potential for improved diagnosis. In high-risk groups, such as patients with acute and chronic cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease or those with diabetes mellitus, easy and inexpensive tests are necessary to help primary care physicians to detect patients at risk of OSAS. The complexity and cost of diagnosis is high, and many patients who are candidates for sleep studies may not receive adequate care owing to geographical or economic limitations. Moreover, the morbidity associated with the disease is dramatically reduced when patients are treated.22 All these characteristics reinforce the importance of our results. We advocate the use of a protocolized oropharyngeal examination at primary care level to diagnose and categorize the severity of the disease and thus to optimize the decision to send a patient to a sleep unit for further evaluation.
Correspondence: Christian Domingo, MD, PhD, Servei de Pneumologia, Corporació Parc Taulí, Parc Taulí s/n, 08208 Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain (email@example.com).
Submitted for Publication: May 20, 2011; final revision received July 19; accepted August 14, 2011.
Author Contributions: All authors had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Study concept and design: Barceló and Domingo. Acquisition of data: Barceló and Bugés. Analysis and interpretation of data: Barceló, Mirapeix, Cobos, and Domingo. Drafting of the manuscript: Barceló. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Mirapeix, Bugés, Cobos, and Domingo. Statistical analysis: Mirapeix, Cobos, and Domingo. Administrative, technical, and material support: Barceló and Bugés. Study supervision: Mirapeix and Domingo.
Financial Disclosure: Dr Mirapeix has organized courses and received lecture fees from Schering-Plough and Merck Sharp & Dohme. Dr Domingo has received lecture fees from Glaxo Smith-Kline, Astra-Zeneca, Novartis, Boehringer, Menarini, Bayer, and Esteve.