Effect of Sleep-Disordered Breathing During Rapid Eye Movement Sleep and Non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep on Acute...

Sleep-disordered breathing adversely impacts stroke outcomes. We investigated whether sleep-disordered breathing during rapid eye movement sleep and non-rapid eye movement sleep differentially influenced stroke outcomes.

Acute ischemic stroke patients who finished polysomnography within 14 days of stroke onset from April 2010 to August 2018 were reviewed. Patients were divided into four groups according to apnea-hypopnea index during rapid eye movement sleep and non-rapid eye movement sleep. The modified Rankin Scale was used to evaluate short-term outcome. During January and April 2019, another follow-up was performed for long-term outcomes, including stroke-specific quality-of-life scale, modified Rankin Scale, stroke recurrence and death.

Of 140 patients reviewed, 109 were finally recruited. Although patients with sleep-disordered breathing during non-rapid eye movement sleep only and with sleep-disordered breathing during both rapid eye movement sleep and non-rapid eye movement sleep had higher apnea-hypopnea indices and more disrupted sleep structures, short-term and long-term outcomes did not significantly different between four groups. In Logistic regression analysis, apnea-hypopnea index (p = 0.013, OR 1.023, 95%CI 1.005-1.042) was found independently associated with short-term outcome. Rapid eye movement sleep latency (p = 0.045, OR 0.994, 95%CI 0.987-1.000) was found independently associated with quality of life. Apnea-hypopnea indices during rapid eye movement sleep or non-rapid eye movement sleep were not significantly associated with short-term or long-term outcomes.

Apnea-hypopnea index is an independent risk factor of short-term outcome of acute ischemic stroke while sleep-disordered breathing during rapid eye movement sleep and non-rapid eye movement sleep do not affect stroke outcomes differently.