Abstract Introduction Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a form of sleep disordered breathing (SDB), is defined as a decrease or cessation of airflow while sleeping and affects a significant amount of the US population. Sleep apnea is associated with multiple medical comorbidities and timely intervention can lead to a prominent impact in patients’ health. There is currently a dearth of data on the diagnosis of OSA and other sleep disorders in the inpatient setting. In this study, we looked at the use of sleep medicine inpatient consulting service to identify OSA and other sleep disorders. Methods This study is a retrospective chart review of 705 patients admitted to Henry Ford Hospital from January 2015 to September 2025. We looked at the reason for inpatient sleep consults, and what fraction of those led to a diagnosis of OSA. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Results Our data showed a high volume of inpatient sleep medicine consults. Sleep medicine was consulted for evaluation of obstructive sleep apnea, obesity hypoventilation syndrome, central sleep apnea, evaluation of positive pressure device settings, and insomnia. Of the 705 consults seen, 46% (n=301) of the patients had diagnostic sleep studies performed during their admission. While the vast majority were portable sleep studies, a small minority of patients had in-lab polysomnography done. Of the 301 patients who had inpatient sleep studies done, 97% (n=294) were diagnosed with OSA. Conclusion In our study, nearly all patients who had inpatient sleep studies performed were diagnosed with OSA. Our study shows that inpatient sleep medicine evaluation can help diagnose patients with OSA. This can lead to a timely diagnosis and treatment for at-risk populations. Support (if any)
Talat et al. (Fri,) studied this question.