Somnoware Launches New Software for Sleep Apnea and COPD

Sleep apnea and COPD usually come together as overlapping illnesses. Sleep apnea is also known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea or OSA and Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is known as COPD for short. These are two very common pulmonary diseases that are individually attained but most of the time overlapping. While having only one of these diseases is already bad in itself, having two of them overlap will double the discomfort. Although more research has been done in treating this type of illness, there has been no accurate cure for it. Luckily though, there are ways on how to monitor and manage it. 

With this, a team of researchers has further progressed the management treatment of OSA and COPD by creating a chronic care management software. The company behind the software is Somnoware. This software is designed to make treatment of the illness easier for pulmonologists by being able to pull out information and records of a patient in a very organized manner. This will help the doctors understand more about the patient, why he developed the overlapping disease, and how to cure it.

Breaking Down COPD and OSA 

COPD in itself has already been known to be the third leading cause of death in the United States of America because of its prevalence in so many patients. OSA or obstructive sleep apnea, on the other hand, occurs in 70% of men and 56% of women according to a study done by the COPD Foundation. Together, they form a very chronic illness known as the “overlap syndrome” wherein the patient suffers from both diseases at one time.

Patients who have COPD often have abnormal insomnia or disturbance during sleep which results in bad fatigue and sleepiness. Due to this, patients would often have abnormal nocturnal oxygen levels in the bloodstream, thus creating an imbalance in the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide during the daytime. OSA, on the other hand, is a chronic medical condition in which a patient stops breathing during his sleep. He or she would usually stop breathing for 10 seconds or more which would also contribute to an imbalance in oxygen levels in the bloodstream. This is usually caused by an obstruction in the breathing airways. Some other causes of the disease would be a failure in the brain to command a breathing activity.

When one has the Overlap Syndrome, which is a combination of the two above mentioned illnesses, that person will have an imbalance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in their bloodstream during the day. This is because of the COPD. Moreover, breathing will be difficult if he or she falls asleep due to the OSA. Therefore, the patient will not be able to balance his or her oxygen levels whether he or she is awake or asleep. Even if the patient does happen to fall asleep despite the COPD, the OSA will cause a big disturbance; thus, the patient will have a very hard time with his or her blood chemistry. In a sense, it is a never-ending cycle of challenges to healing the body.

Diagnosis and Treatment

In order to diagnose COPD, doctors usually run them through an overnight sleep assessment. Through this assessment, the doctors monitor the blood oxygen levels and the breathing pattern of the patient. If they identify a breathing problem during sleep, this could already be a sign of the Overlap Syndrome. The two things that doctors have to note when treating Overlap Syndrome would be the blood oxygen in a day and the breathing disorder. Thus, their goal is to balance the blood oxygen and the prevention of difficulty breathing while sleeping. The most common treatment method would be the CPAP or the continuous positive airway pressure. Steroids may also be used for treating COPD symptoms if they get too bad. Another option would be total lifestyle change such as dieting and weight loss for obese individuals. Although there has been some effort in treating the overlap syndrome, researchers have been searching for better and more effective methods to help treat this condition faster and more effectively in order to help the patients who suffer from it.

The Somnoware Chronic Care Management Software

The Chronic Care Management module was created from the combined efforts of the researchers from the company known as Somnoware. This was created in order for the pulmonologists to get a very clear picture of the patient’s medical history, history of therapy, history of medication, and all other very important information which can be used in the patient’s treatment. With the software, pulmonologists will also be able to get a detailed view of the demographic, the therapy adherence, hospitalization history, and diagnosis details of the patient. All of these can be used in order to come up with the right and most effective treatment. It will also give the pulmonologists an idea as to whether the patient needs a higher level of care or not. Not only does this software organize and store data, but it also interprets data in order to give analytics. The analytics is based on the statistics and other metrics of the information provided by the hospital. When put together, the data will give information such as the number of high-risk patients, as well as the patient charts of each.

The details of the patient chart, on the other hand, is the base on other medical records including test data of each patient; for instance, the questionnaires, medical tests, and tests done through wearable devices. Other than patient data, the pulmonologists will also have access to therapy and treatment data wherein the software will also provide results from tests, CPAP monitoring, and sleep study tests results. This Somnoware software also has a built-in CRM that allows the pulmonary care specialists to directly communicate to their patients through emails, private messaging, live chats, or through texts. This is to ensure that communication is easier and faster so that the doctors can attend to the needs of the patient more efficiently.

According to a press release by the CEO of Somnoware Subath Kamalasan, the Chronic Care Management Module focuses on sleep apnea and COPD. He further revealed that this software has the potential to better the respiratory health care in general. Some of its basic functions include:

• provide a 360-degree view of the patient's medical history and records,
• anticipate possible outcomes, and
• apply appropriate actions real time with just one screen.

This software module allows them to save more money on the cost of managing sleep apnea and COPD symptoms.

By automating the entire medical procedure of treatment, it is possible to save more lives and improve the lives of the other existing patients faster and with less difficulty.

As one can see, this software is a rather revolutionary one that is very new to the medical world. This is a really good case of using the vast technology that we have nowadays to further the progress of treatment for patients who suffer from the Overlap Syndrome. Although there is no real cure for the disease just yet, the best that we can do is to help patients treat the illness faster so that it won’t get worse over time-- and this is exactly what this software is helping the pulmonologists do.

By automating the entire medical procedure of treatment, it is possible to save more lives and improve the lives of the other existing patients faster and with less difficulty.