Sleep-disordered breathing in healthy and spousally bereaved elderly: a one-year follow-up study

This study examined the progression of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) over 1 year in two samples of elderly subjects: 45 healthy controls (20 men; 25 women mean age 74.8 years) and 27 recently spousally bereaved elders (9 men; 18 women, mean age 69.7 years). Although controls and bereaved subjects did not differ in the proportions with SDB, both groups showed a rise in the proportion of subjects with apnea hypopnea index > or = 5 and > or = 10 at 1-year follow-up and a small but statistically significant worsening in average maximum desaturation. The severity of SDB did not correlate with medical burden or with other clinical variables, such as severity of depressive symptoms. In summary, SDB increased longitudinally in both samples. This finding may have health implications for the aging population although at this time the implications are unclear.