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Dr. José William Pulido Junco explains the difference between the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and the Stop-Bang Score

August 25, 2019

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NN: Dr. Pulido, could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your professional career?
Dr. Pulido: I am William Pulido, I am a pulmonologist, internist, and sleep medicine specialist. I´ve worked in pulmonology for about fifteen years, and in sleep medicine for eight years approximately.

NN: How important are diagnostics for patients who are likely to suffer from sleep apnea?
Dr. Pulido: It is important for all people with symptoms related to sleep apnea: loud snorers, patients suffering from insomnia, patients who do not have restful sleep, who wake up several times at night, or who are sleepy during daytime. They should consult their doctors in the specialty they are being treated in to investigate this important issue more closely. It so happens that this is a condition related to cardiovascular problems such as hypertension, diabetes, coronary diseases, arrhythmias, cerebrovascular illness, depression, and chronic fatigue, therefore, sleep apnea should not be considered an isolated symptom, but rather as a component of many other conditions. It is very important for all patients to consult with their doctor to investigate more about this disease.

NN: What is the difference between the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and the Stop-Bang Score?
Dr. Pulido: These are two very different scales. The Epworth Scale only helps us understand how much sleep a patient gets during the day, whether a patient falls asleep during normal activities such as reading, listening to music, or travelling in a vehicle. The Stop-Bang score, on the other hand, is a scale that helps us predict the risk of suffering from sleep apnea. There are other activities which can produce sleep during the day and the Epworth scale is the tool we use to measure the severity. The Stop-Bang score, however, is directly intended to identify the sleep apnea illness.

NN: Dr. Pulido, have you conducted any research related to this?
Dr. Pulido: Incidentally, we were researching the relation between the Stop-Bang score to patients with mild, moderate and severe apneas in our sleep lab, which produced very interesting findings.
NN: How important is it for physicians to continue research in their medical specialties?
Dr. Pulido: Medical development must be ongoing. Not everything has been discovered in medicine, not everything has been discovered in biology, and every time there are breakthrough’s with the advancement of knowledge, of diagnostics, of treatments, and of the follow-up to diseases, it is very useful for everybody, therefore, in our daily routine, we need to continuously be developing new knowledge so that all members of staff can perform better.

NN: Could you tell us about your experience with the Neurovirtual brand?
Dr. Pulido: This has been a mutual growth. We have had various devices from your company at our sleep lab, and we have been able to see that they are user-friendly, easy to maintain, reading-efficient, and comfortable for patients, that is why I believe these devices are a great fit and the technical support we receive is superior, and we always receive answers the moment we need them.
NN: Would you recommend our company to other doctors?
Dr. Pulido: Definitely! The company offers us support and assistance at every request, and sleep medicine professionals such as myself, will be facing great progress and support so we can all get ahead.

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