The coordinator of the European project INNOBICS-SAHS and head of the Sleep Unit at the Josep Trueta University Hospital of Girona and Hospital Santa Caterina of Salt, Dr. Eric Rojas, has announced that more than 3,000 people in Girona and a hundred in Lisbon have already benefited from the new care circuit to improve the diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.

“The results obtained so far are really quite optimistic and we are very pleased (…), since practically 80% of the patients who have been treated in the new healthcare process have been dealt with in primary care with the support of the Virtual Sleep Unit”, explains Dr. Rojas in this video.

The entities participating in the project have created two Virtual Sleep Units, one at the Josep Trueta University Hospital in Girona and Santa Caterina Hospital in Salt, and another at the Santa Maria hospital centre in Lisbon. These units receive all the data from the sleep polygraph that specially trained nurses in primary care centre have given their patients with suspected apnea to monitor their sleep and vital signs overnight at home. This way, hospital professionals have been able to virtually diagnose and propose treatment to the majority of patients treated at the CAP, without the need to refer them to the hospital for testing.

Currently, 11 primary care centres of the Institut Català de la Salut and the Institut d’Assistència Sanitària (IAS) in the Girona region are participating in the project, plus three primary care centres in Lisbon, in addition to two other to be added in the coming weeks.

As highlighted by Dr. Rojas in the video, the project is providing more patients with a quick and effective diagnosis, since in many cases they have been evaluated in less than 30 days.

About obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common sleep breathing disorder and is caused by the repeated collapse of the upper airway during sleep. It is estimated that it affects one in four people aged between 30 and 70, although in most cases it goes undiagnosed. If not treated in time, it causes high rates of morbidity and mortality, and can lead to drowsiness, concentration problems, and a greater risk of suffering from cardiovascular problems and traffic accidents, among others.

The INNOBICS-SAHS project is now offering the public at large with suspected obstructive sleep apnea a rapid and effective diagnosis of this disease, thanks to the collaboration between primary care and the sleep units of leading hospitals. The participants in the project, co-financed by EIT Health are the Institut Català de la Salut of Girona, the Girona Biomedical Research Institute Dr. Josep Trueta(IDIBGI), the TIC Social Health Foundation, the Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte, Evidenze, TRC Informática, ResMed Spain, and OXYGEN Health.