Home Sleep Test for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnoea

Published on 05 Feb 2019
Last Updated on 11 April 2025

Guidance Recommendation

The Ministry of Health's MTAC has recommended:

1. Ambulatory sleep study or home sleep test (HST) with a type 2 or type 3 device for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in adults aged ≥18 years who fulfil both (A) and (B).

   1. High pre-test probability for moderate-severe OSA, where signs and symptoms indicating a high pre-test probability for moderate-severe OSA include:

      • Excessive daytime sleepiness; and

      • At least two of the following three criteria: (i) habitual loud snoring; (ii) witnessed apnoea, gasping, or choking; and (iii) diagnosed hypertension

   2. No complicated conditions that include:

      • Awake hypoventilation or high risk of sleep-related hypoventilation;

      • Significant cardiopulmonary disease;

      • Long-term home oxygen therapy;

      • Chronic opiate medication use;

      • Parasomnias (such as REM behavioural disorder);

      • Severe insomnia;

      • Sleep-related movement disorders (such as periodic limb movement disorder);

      • Potential respiratory muscle weakness caused by neuromuscular conditions;

      • History of stroke;

      • Disorders of central hypersomnolence;

      • Nocturnal seizure; and

      • Environmental or personal factors precluding adequate acquisition and data interpretation from HST

2. The patient should be assessed, and raw HST data reviewed and interpreted, by a specialist trained in sleep medicine and credentialled by institutions to interpret polysomnography, according to the institution-based clinical privileging criteria.

3. Quality assurance procedures should have been established for data acquisition from HST data acquisition.

Subsidy status

Subsidy for HST is recommended for the abovementioned indications only.

Home sleep test (HST) for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnoea (11 April 2025) [PDF, 149 KB]