Abstract
Background and Purpose: Patients with severe OSA have an almost 4-fold higher odds of resistant hypertension than those with less severe OSA. OSA screening practices in primary care are deficient. Additional study is needed regarding the value of OSA screening in hypertensive adults who present to the primary care clinic.|Methods: This was a convenience sample of adults with hypertension from a rural primary care clinic in Iowa. Staff identified patients who met the inclusion criteria for the project. The STOP-Bang Questionnaire was used to screen the patients for OSA. Providers subsequently used discretion as to ordering polysomnography.|Conclusions: 32 patients were screened over a 3-month time period. All men scored either high or intermediate risk for OSA. 40% of patients scored high risk for OSA with 33% of those patients referred for polysomnography. At project conclusion, 3 patients had undergone polysomnography testing and all were diagnosed with sleep apnea.|Implications for Practice: In order to ensure timely diagnosis and treatment of OSA, primary care offices should consider screening all hypertensive adults for OSA. With compulsive screening and subsequent identification and treatment of patients with OSA, primary care providers can pave the way in reducing mortality and morbidity associated with OSA, as well as resistant hypertension.