Sleep structure in patients with COMISA compared to OSA and insomnia.

Study Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and insomnia frequently co-occur, making diagnosis and treatment challenging. We investigated differences in sleep structure between patients with OSA, insomnia, and comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea (COMISA) to identify characteristics that can be used to improve the diagnosis of COMISA.

Methods: We obtained polysomnography data of 326 patients from the Sleep and OSA Monitoring with Non-Invasive Applications database. The group included patients with OSA (n = 199), insomnia (n = 47), and COMISA (n = 80). We compared statistics related to sleep structure between the 3 patient groups.

Results: Wake after sleep onset was significantly shorter for the OSA group (median: 60.0 minutes) compared to the COMISA (median: 83.3 minutes, < .01) and the insomnia (median: 83.5 minutes, = .01) groups. No significant differences were found in the total number of awakenings and the number of short (up to and including 2 minutes) and medium-length awakenings (2.5 up to and including 4.5 minutes). However, the number of long awakenings (5 minutes or longer) and wake after sleep onset containing only long awakenings was significantly lower for patients with OSA (median: 2 awakenings and 25.5 minutes) compared to patients with COMISA (median: 3 awakenings, < .01 and 43.3 minutes, < .001) or with insomnia (median: 3 awakenings, < .01 and 56.0 minutes, < .001). Total sleep time was significantly longer and sleep efficiency was significantly higher for the OSA group (median: 418.5 minutes and 84.4%) compared to both the COMISA (median: 391.5 minutes, < .001 and 77.3%, < .001) and the insomnia (median: 381.5 minutes, < .001 and 78.2%, < .001) groups. The number of sleep-stage transitions during the night for patients with COMISA (median: 194.0) was lower compared to that for patients with OSA (median: 218.0, < .01) and higher compared to that for patients with insomnia (median: 156.0, < .001). Other sleep architectural parameters were not discriminative between the groups.

Conclusions: Patients with COMISA show specific characteristics of insomnia, including prolonged awakenings. This variable is distinctive in comparison to patients with OSA. The combination of prolonged awakenings and the presence of sleep-disordered breathing leads to increased sleep disturbance compared to patients having only 1 of the sleep disorders.

Citation: Wulterkens BM, Hermans LWA, Fonseca P, et al. Sleep structure in patients with COMISA compared to OSA and insomnia. . 2023;19(6):1051-1059.