Obstructive sleep apnoea: innocent bystander or associate in crime?

Response to ‘OSA: innocent bystander or associate in crime?’ (Br J Anaesth 2019; 123: e473–e474)

“…Anaesthetists and syringe hygiene: getting to the pointy end e a summary of recommendations Lloyd E. Kwanten London, UK E-mail: lkwanten@nhs.net EditordBloodstream infection (BSI) and surgical site infection (SSI) are major causes of morbidity and mortality, causing more deaths annually than influenza and pneumonia combined. 1 Despite being potentially preventable, nosocomial BSI increases hospital length of stay by more than 1 week while also increasing the estimated annual economic burden by £1 billion in the UK and $30 billion in the USA. 2,3 Anaesthetists' roles in these adverse outcomes are not benign, with evidence that the environment and manner in which medications are prepared and administered increases the risk of syringe and stopcock contamination, which are associated with postoperative morbidity and mortality.…”

“…EditordCorso and colleagues 1 raise several important issues that are relevant to our study, 2 and to research in general, on the STOP-BANG questionnaire (SBQ). They are concerned that our study did not evaluate the validity of this well-known preoperative screening questionnaire.…”