7.3 Home delivery ENT Diagnostics: Transforming Paediatric Sleep Apnoea Care in Regional Australia
Tracks
Crown Ballroom 3B
| Thursday, October 23, 2025 |
| 2:55 PM - 3:25 PM |
| Crown Ballroom 3B |
Details
Format: Academic or scientific verbal presentation (30-minute)
Speaker
A/Prof Paul Paddle
ENT Surgeon
Nebula Health
Home delivery ENT Diagnostics: Transforming Paediatric Sleep Apnoea Care in Regional Australia
2:55 PM - 3:25 PMAbstract Overview
Background: Paediatric obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) can significantly impact growth, learning, behaviour and health. Rural Australian families face long travel distances, high costs, and delays for diagnosis—challenges made worse during COVID-19.
Aims: We evaluated whether home-delivered oximetry (Heali-Ox) could match hospital-based testing for accuracy, speed, and patient satisfaction, and developed a new Paediatric OSA Screening Triple Test (POSTT), combining home oximetry, video tonsil grading, and digital questionnaires.
Methods: Regional Victorian children (ages 2–18) with clinically diagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnoea or sleep disordered breathing, awaiting surgery completed both hospital-based oximetry (HDO) and remote home oximetry (RDO). We compared diagnostic results, turnaround times, and family preferences. An ongoing study is validating the full POSTT model against gold-standard in-lab sleep studies.
Results: Remote oximetry (RDO) matched hospital testing with 100% diagnostic agreement. Families overwhelmingly preferred home testing (89%). Average time to test completion dropped from 87.7 days to just 23.6 days. Early POSTT validation results are anticipated in late 2025.
Conclusion: Remote ENT diagnostics for paediatric OSA are accurate, faster, and preferred. The POSTT model offers a practical, scalable solution to improve access and equity for rural children—meeting urgent healthcare needs now and into the future.
Aims: We evaluated whether home-delivered oximetry (Heali-Ox) could match hospital-based testing for accuracy, speed, and patient satisfaction, and developed a new Paediatric OSA Screening Triple Test (POSTT), combining home oximetry, video tonsil grading, and digital questionnaires.
Methods: Regional Victorian children (ages 2–18) with clinically diagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnoea or sleep disordered breathing, awaiting surgery completed both hospital-based oximetry (HDO) and remote home oximetry (RDO). We compared diagnostic results, turnaround times, and family preferences. An ongoing study is validating the full POSTT model against gold-standard in-lab sleep studies.
Results: Remote oximetry (RDO) matched hospital testing with 100% diagnostic agreement. Families overwhelmingly preferred home testing (89%). Average time to test completion dropped from 87.7 days to just 23.6 days. Early POSTT validation results are anticipated in late 2025.
Conclusion: Remote ENT diagnostics for paediatric OSA are accurate, faster, and preferred. The POSTT model offers a practical, scalable solution to improve access and equity for rural children—meeting urgent healthcare needs now and into the future.
Biography
A/Prof Paul Paddle is an ENT surgeon, researcher and founder. Since his intern year he has participated in Victorian regional and rural outreach care, and has dedicated himself to trying to enhance equity and access to timely regional ENT care, using innovation and technology. As co-director and founder of Nebula Health, he created Healiox Home delivery Oximetry and ENT assessment kits, with a vision to reach any child in Australia, with sleep disordered breathing and ENT symptoms. He is the recipient of a number of grants, is widely published and holds academic positions at Monash, Charles Sturt and LaTrobe Universities. He is also director and founder of Melbourne ENT Group, Melbourne Swallow Analysis Centre, and research director for I-scribe medical AI.
