Japanese clinical guideline for sleep apnea syndrome (SAS)

概要

Sleep apnea syndrome (SAS), which is also called obstruc- tive sleep apnea, is a highly prevalent sleep disorder, and sleep societies have made guidelines on this sleep disor- der [1–3]. More than 500,000 patients are using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy for SAS in Japan [1]. The Japanese Respiratory Society and the “Survey and Research on Refractory Respiratory Diseases and Pulmo- nary Hypertension” Group of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare updated the “Guideline Sleep Apnea Syndrome (SAS) Clinical Practice Guidelines” in cooperation with other related academic societies, including the Japanese Society of Sleep Research [1].

　This Japanese guideline was not based on systematic reviews using the Grading of Recommendations Assess- ment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) process as that of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine [2] nor endorsed another existing guideline as that of the World Sleep Society [3]. It was made to support physicians and entire medical teams to diagnose and treat SAS. Originally, 36 clinical questions were settled in Japanese and 16 of them were translated into English. Each question was answered referring to approximately 20 carefully selected recent papers and some famous and historical textbooks [1].

　Each country has its own health insurance policy, and the guideline of that country should match the policy and indicate the standard medical care there. CPAP remote monitoring has been accepted and reimbursed since 2018 in Japan. This Japanese guideline remarked on the CPAP remote-monitoring system [1]. The guideline was planned to be updated every 5 years to include new pieces of evidence.