The Challenges for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Disorders in Turkey

The reason for extra long waiting periods for in-lab polysomnography (PSG) in thousands of patients is the fact that only full PSG analysis and reports are acceptable for the diagnosis of sleep disorders in Turkey. There have been reports showing that portable polygraphy (PG) had the same accuracy with PSG in 80% of patients. Sleep studies are performed with the frequency of 90% for PSG and 10% for PG in Turkey while vice versa in the most European countries. The health practices communiqué (HPC) and performance-based payment for the diagnosis of sleep disorders are unsatisfactory for the stakeholders. Ten to twenty thousand positive airway pressure (PAP) devices are prescribed per year after obligatory in-lab PSG tests in Turkey. However, treatment efficacy of these PAP devices which patients are provided or patients obtain themselves with the prices determined by the HPC are not followed up. We assume that hospitals should establish their own patient follow-up units, as such in home care system, for providing PAP devices and submit reports for periodic follow-up and utilization of PAP devices to the social security system on a regular basis