Serial vs. parallel approach to screen sleep disorders: an exploratory study

Aiming to verify which is the most effective screening approach for sleep disorders between the serial (first step: sleep self-report measure; second step only in case of positive outcome at the first: objective tool) and parallel (unique step, with the concurrent use of sleep self-report measure and objective tool), a first secondary analysis of previously collected data (study 1) was carried out examining primary insomniacs (PI) and healthy controls (HC). Aiming to verify the implementation of such approaches in clinical populations presenting high comorbidity with sleep disorder, an additional secondary analysis (study 2) was carried out, investigating hypertensive patients (HP) and severe obese patients (SOP). 84 HC and 47 PI were examined in study 1, while 36 SOP, and 30 HP in study 2. All participants originally underwent actigraphic recordings for seven consecutive days, using the Actiwatch device (objective tool). At the end of the recording week, participants filled the Mini Sleep Questionnaire (sleep self-report measure). As regards the study 1, the parallel and serial approaches allowed to correctly identify the 97.87% and 55.32% of PI, respectively. With reference to the study 2, the 36.11% and 80.56% of SOP were identified as positive at the serial and parallel approaches, respectively, while the corresponding percentages of HP were 30% and 70%. Study 1 showed that parallel screening approach is the most effective in PI, allowing to correctly identifying almost the entirety of these patients. Study 2 highlighted that serial screening approach is more useful in SOP and HP, identifying a percentage of positive patients overall in line with the documented comorbidity with sleep disorder in these clinical populations.