Accuracy of automatic analysis of ambulatory recordings of nocturnal breathing disorders is significantly instrumentation dependent.

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is generally diagnosed with ambulatory recordings. Although reliability of automated analysis has been investigated, suitability of one single analysis software for use with different devices is unclear. Here, validity of automatic analysis of recordings with two ambulatory devices and reliability of automatic analysis in detection of mixed and central apnoeas are investigated through 100 and 167 recordings with Venla and Embletta devices, respectively. Recordings were analysed automatically with Somnologica 3.2 and compared to manual analysis. Significant differences were seen between devices in classification of the severity of OSA when automatic analysis was applied. 65.4% and 11.4% of patients with mild obstructive sleep apnoea received false negative diagnosis with Venla and Embletta, respectively. Further, as automatic analysis was seen to have major difficulty in detection and classification of central and mixed apnoeas, manual analysis is suggested when these forms of disease are suspected.