Features of REM-related Sleep Disordered Breathing in the Japanese Population

Rapid eye movement (REM)-related sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is an entity in which the cessation or reduction of breathing occurs primarily during the REM period. Most studies have shown that REM-related SDB more frequently affects women, younger people and patients with mild or moderate SDB. The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate the prevalence and features of REM-related SDB in Japanese subjects compared with the findings of previous reports.

A total of 468 patients were evaluated in this study. The diagnosis of SDB was established using polysomnographic monitoring. The patient variables included age, gender, body characteristics, comorbidities, etc.

REM-related SDB was more prevalent in women than non-REM-related SDB (male ratio; 66.3% vs. 79.5%, p=0.03). Moreover, the patients with REM-related SDB had lower body mass indexes (25.9 ± 6.9 vs. 28.5 ± 7.7; p=0.003), arousal indexes (31.8 ± 10.7 vs. 61.0 ± 29.1; p<0.001), apnea hypopnea indexes (15.0 ± 8.0 vs. 54.9 ± 35.9) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels (5.5 ± 0.9 vs. 5.9 ± 2.6; p=0.02) than the patients with non-REM-related SDB. However, the overall and female gender prevalence of REM-related SDB among the Japanese subjects was lower than that shown in previous reports. The finding that REM-related SDB was not prevalent in younger individuals or severely obese patients was not consistent with the results of previous studies.

The present findings suggest that REM-related SDB may have different clinical characteristics in the Japanese population than that observed in previous reports.