The effect of torso elevation on minimum effective continuous positive airway pressure for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.

Background: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is considered the gold standard treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, it can be a challenge in some patients to find an effective CPAP setting that is well tolerated. A lower CPAP setting may improve patient tolerance of the treatment.

Personalized feedback to improve CPAP adherence in obstructive sleep apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is effectively treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Low rates of CPAP adherence led to the development of a personalized feedback intervention requiring minimal provider burden. In a comparison of the intervention to standard information, group differences failed to reach significance.

Sleep-related laryngospasm caused by gastroesophageal reflux.

Gastroesophageal reflux is a suspected cause of sleep-related laryngospasm [Thurnheer R, Henz A, Knoblauch A. Sleep-related laryngospasm. Eur Respir J 1997;10:2084-6], but the relationship has not been directly documented by polysomnography (PSG).

Posttraumatic stress disorder in the spouse of a patient with sleep terrors.

A 27-year-old woman who developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a consequence of her husband's severe sleep terror episode is reported. A 29-year-old man suddenly aroused from sleep and jumped through the closed second-story window of the room he shared with his wife, sustaining major lacerations to his arms. He hung onto the roof as his wife screamed at him from the window, and eventually climbed back inside.

Change in periodic limb movement index during treatment of obstructive sleep apnea with continuous positive airway pressure.

Study Objectives: The following hypotheses were investigated: 1) severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can mask concurrent periodic limb movement (PLM) disorder (PLMD), which becomes evident or worsens after treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP); 2) in patients with mild OSA, PLMs are not masked but may be triggered by subclinical hypopneas or respiratory effort-related arousals and improve after CPAP.

Design: Retrospective analysis was performed on 2 polysomnographic studies per patient--1 baseline, the second with CPAP titration. The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and PLM index (PLMI) under the 2 conditions were statistically analyzed.

Obstructive sleep apnea and depression.

Is there an association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and depression? OSA is a common breathing-related sleep disorder. There have been reports that depressive symptoms can be associated with this sleep disorder. A number of investigations have addressed this issue.

A review of common sleep disorders.

What should clinicians know about sleep disorders? This article briefly introduces the reader to sleep medicine and succinctly reviews common sleep disorders. First, the authors describe the diagnostic tools unique to sleep medicine: the over-night polysomnogram and the multiple sleep latency test. Next, the authors review essential features of a subset of the sleep, described in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders-Revised, that sleep disorder specialists commonly evaluate, diagnose, and treat.

Sleep apnea and hypertension: pathophysiologic mechanisms.

This article reviews the pathophysiology of hypertension (HTN) in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The article is divided into 3 sections. The first section describes epidemiologic studies of the relationship of sleep-related breathing disorders, including OSA, to HTN and argues that OSA contributes to the genesis of HTN.