Feasibility of oropharyngeal and respiratory muscle training in individuals with OSA and spinal cord injury or disease: A pilot study.

Objectives: To examine the feasibility of individuals with spinal cord injury or disease (SCI/D) to perform combined oropharyngeal and respiratory muscle training (RMT) and determine its impact on their respiratory function.

Methods: A prospective study at a single Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center. Inclusion criteria included: 1) Veterans with chronic SCI/D (>6 months postinjury and American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) classification A-D) and 2) evidence of OSA by apnea-hypopnea index (AHI ≥5 events/h).

Mirtazapine reduces susceptibility to hypocapnic central sleep apnea in males with sleep-disordered breathing: a pilot study.

Studies in humans and animal models with spinal cord injury (SCI) have demonstrated that medications targeting serotonin receptors may decrease the susceptibility to central sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). We hypothesized that mirtazapine would decrease the propensity to develop hypocapnic central sleep apnea (CSA) during sleep. We performed a single-blind pilot study on a total of 10 men with SDB (7 with chronic SCI and 3 noninjured) aged 52.

Buspirone decreases susceptibility to hypocapnic central sleep apnea in chronic SCI patients.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a risk factor for central sleep apnea (CSA). Previous studies in animal models with SCI have demonstrated a promising recovery in respiratory and phrenic nerve activity post-injury induced by the systemic and local administration of serotonin receptor agonists such as Buspirone and Trazodone. Human trials must be performed to determine whether individuals with SCI respond similarly.

Longitudinal effect of nocturnal R-R intervals changes on cardiovascular outcome in a community-based cohort.

Rationale: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is strongly linked to adverse cardiovascular outcomes (cardiovascular diseases (CVD)). Whether heart rate changes measured by nocturnal R-R interval (RRI) dips (RRI dip index (RRDI)) adversely affect the CVD outcomes is unknown.

Objectives: To test whether nocturnal RRDI predicts CVD incidence and mortality in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort study (WSCS), independent of the known effects of SDB on beat-to-beat variability.

Characteristics and Consequences of Non-apneic Respiratory Events During Sleep.

Rationale: Current scoring criteria of non-apneic events (ie, hypopnea) require the presence of oxyhemoglobin desaturation and/or arousal. However, other sleep study parameters may help to identify abnormal respiratory events (REs) and assist in making more accurate diagnosis.

Objectives: To investigate whether non-apneic REs without desaturation or cortical arousal are associated with respiratory and cardiac consequences.