Sleep oxygen desaturation in late sequelae of pulmonary tuberculosis

Thirty-eight patients with late sequelae of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB seq.) were studied to clarify the characteristics of sleep desaturation in comparison with 40 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). While awake, the TB seq. group had a lower % VC and a higher PaCO2. In both groups, the sleep lowest SaO2 was positively correlated with the awake SaO2. The regression line between the sleep lowest SaO2 and the awake baseline SaO2 in the TB seq. group was located below that in the COPD group. Awake PaCO2 was negatively related to the sleep lowest SaO2 only in the TB seq. group. These results indicate that the sleep lowest SaO2 values were lower in TB seq. than in COPD patients with the same levels of SaO2 while awake. Sleep studies are necessary to reveal the indication for nocturnal oxygen therapy in TB seq. patients, especially when they are hypercapnic in spite of their good awake oxygenation.