The new Sleep Time Tool available in Noxturnal software, compatible with the Nox T3s HST home sleep testing diagnostic device, is designed to help clinicians refine their sleep study analyses by offering an intuitive way to manually review and update Total Sleep Time (TST) calculations. This powerful tool goes beyond traditional Home Sleep Testing (HST) limitations, supporting clinical assessment by incorporating supplementary data, such as body position and other relevant factors.
The Nox T3s is an advanced home sleep test that leverages airflow and respiratory effort measurements, and has demonstrated reliability across diverse patient groups, including those with complex chronic conditions. With the addition of Total Sleep Time, the Nox T3s enhances the review process, supporting clinicians in their assessment and interpretation of results.*
How the Total Sleep Time Tool Works
One of the key benefits of the Sleep Time Tool by Nox is how it simplifies the process of refining TST calculations. Here’s a closer look at how it works:
- Initial Mapping: The tool starts by using body position data (Upright vs. Non-Upright) to generate an initial sleep staging profile. It marks 30-second epochs as either Wake or Sleep, laying the groundwork for more precise analysis.
- Manual Review: Clinicians can then manually review and adjust epochs that contain movement events. This step is crucial for improving the accuracy of the TST calculation, ensuring that the final results reflect the true sleep time.
- Customized Reporting: With a new parameter in Noxturnal, users can exclude Upright body position and movement events from reports. This ensures that TST calculations accurately reflect the patient’s true sleep time, free from the interference of body movements or other non-sleep activities.
Why Accurate Total Sleep Time (TST) Matters
Accurate TST is critical when diagnosing sleep apnea. One of the most important metrics in this process is the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI), which measures the severity of sleep apnea based on the number of apneas and hypopneas per hour of sleep. However, for AHI to be calculated accurately, the TST must be precise.
Without an accurate TST, relying on Total Recording Time (TRT)—the total time the patient is connected to the sleep study equipment—can lead to overestimated AHI values. This, in turn, can potentially cause misdiagnoses and result in inappropriate treatment plans, which can be harmful to patients. The Sleep Time Tool by Nox helps to address this, ultimately reducing the chances of overdiagnosis and improving patient outcomes.
Advancing Sleep Diagnostics Together
At Nox Medical, we are dedicated to making sleep diagnostic solutions that are designed to be precise while being user-friendly. According to Byron Jamerson, Clinical Sales Manager at Nox Medical and a registered sleep technologist:
“The Sleep Time Tool is a significant step forward in empowering clinicians and technologists to deliver better care through precise and reliable sleep analysis.”
We believe that the Sleep Time Tool, combined with the full capabilities of Noxturnal, will help clinicians unlock the full potential of their diagnostic systems, leading to better outcomes for patients and more efficient diagnoses.
The Sleep Time Tool is available to Nox customers in the latest Noxturnal Software update, Noxturnal 7.1.
*Total Sleep Time adjustments should not be used as a standalone diagnostic metric.
Topic: Industry News
