Diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders: a brief review for clinicians.

Sleep disorders encompass a wide spectrum of diseases with significant individual health consequences and high economic costs to society. To facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders, this review provides a framework using the International Classification of Sleep Disorders, Primary and secondary insomnia are differentiated, and pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments are discussed. Common circadian rhythm disorders are described in conjunction with interventions, including chronotherapy and light therapy.

Sleep and daytime sleepiness in upper airway resistance syndrome compared to obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

This study has investigated differences in the nocturnal sleep and daytime sleepiness among patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), upper airway resistance (UARS), sleep hypopnoea syndrome, and normal control subjects, using sleep scoring and spectral activity analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG). Twelve nonobese males with UARS aged 30-60 yrs were recruited. These subjects were strictly matched for age and body mass index with twelve OSAS patients, 12 sleep hypopnoea syndrome patients, and 12 normal controls, all male.

Cervical positional effects on snoring and apneas.

We examined the effects of cervical position on the Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) through the use of a custom-designed cervical pillow which promoted neck extension. Twelve subjects with OSAS were recruited from a tertiary sleep disorder clinic population. Of the twelve subjects, three had mild cases of OSAS, four had moderate cases, and the remaining five had severe cases.

Upper airway resistance syndrome and its treatment.

Although upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) is being recognized by a growing number of specialists, its prevalence remains unknown. UARS is associated with nocturnal and daytime complaints and oro-naso-maxillo-mandibular signs. Spectrum analysis of the nocturnal sleep EEG from the central leads indicates significant differences in absolute power in the 12-14 Hz and the 7-9 Hz bands of UARS patients compared to controls.

Radiofrequency (pacing and thermic effects) in the treatment of sleep-disordered breathing.

Radiofrequency, whether it is used for pacing or for its thermal liberation properties, has been investigated as a treatment for sleep-disordered breathing. Diaphragmatic pacing has a long history. The problems associated with pacing, which are related to patient selection, equipment failure, disturbances at the electrode/nerve interface, neuromuscular function failure, muscle fatigue, and the physiological consequences of stimulation, will have to be resolved with XIIth nerve stimulation.

Comparison of the severity of sleep-disordered breathing in Asian and Caucasian patients seen at a sleep disorders center.

Race can be considered a risk factor for sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), with higher prevalences and greater severity of the disorder documented among persons of certain racial groups compared with others. Based on clinical observation, it was hypothesized that, other risk factors being equal, Asian patients with SDB have greater severity of their illness compared to Caucasian patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted at a sleep disorders clinic involving 105 Asian patients diagnosed as having SDB after undergoing polysomnography and 99 similarly diagnosed Caucasian patients matched for the following variables: age, gender and body mass index (BMI).

Investigations into the neurologic basis of narcolepsy.

The understanding of narcolepsy has been enhanced by neurophysiologic investigations in humans and by pharmacologic and biochemical studies using the canine model of narcolepsy. Repetitive microsleeps have a more deleterious effect on performance than several short complete naps during the day. Under normal living conditions, the nocturnal sleep of narcoleptic patients is disrupted, and the spectral analysis of central EEG leads shows less delta power density per epoch than it does in age-matched controls, who have an absence or decrease of the usual decay in delta power across the night.

Obstructive sleep apnea surgery: risk management and complications.

Background: Hypoxemia, hypertension, airway obstruction, and death have been associated with surgery for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Patient analysis was undertaken to identify potential factors that could affect risk-management outcome.

Methods: One hundred eighty-two consecutively treated patients with OSAS undergoing 210 procedures were evaluated.

Passive constriction of the upper airway during central apneas: fiberoptic and EMG investigations.

We studied five adult male patients with central sleep apnea syndrome (> 75% of the monitored events being central) during sleep using a fiberoptic scope and EMG monitoring of the superior and middle constrictors of the pharynx and the genioglossus and geniohyoid muscles. The fiberoptic investigation revealed a spontaneous decrease in the size of the airway during central apneas, without negative intrathoracic pressure or activation of the superior and middle pharyngeal constrictor muscles. We found a mean maximum decrease of 71 +/- 7% in the cross-sectional area of the airway and an absence of superior-middle pharyngeal constrictor EMG discharge.

Prolonged confusion with nocturnal wandering arising from NREM and REM sleep: a case report.

A 51-year-old man with Machado-Joseph disease had a 3-year history of prolonged confusion following nightly nocturnal wandering. Polysomnography with videotape monitoring revealed 19- to 120-minute sleepwalking episodes emerging from non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and occasionally from rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, followed by 22-47 minutes of prolonged confusion and disorientation. The patient also had a periodic limb movement disorder and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Arousal, increased respiratory efforts, blood pressure and obstructive sleep apnoea.

The roles of hypoxaemia, of mechanical changes related to partial or complete airway obstruction and of arousals during sleep in the haemodynamic and heart rate changes seen in association with sleep-disordered breathing have been questioned. Several experiments have been performed by these authors to investigate the role of arousals and mechanical changes in the blood pressure changes associated with sleep disordered breathing. Investigation of the role of arousals.

Excessive daytime somnolence in women with abnormal respiratory efforts during sleep.

An abnormal level of respiratory efforts, indicated by significant increase in peak negative esophageal pressure (Pes), can be associated with daytime somnolence in snoring pre-menopausal women. No drop in oxygen saturation (SaO2) or visual evidence of transient electroencephalographic (EEG) arousals can be found at repeat polysomnography. Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) titrated on Pes measurements eliminates somnolence.

A cause of excessive daytime sleepiness. The upper airway resistance syndrome.

Subjects with isolated complaints of chronic daytime sleepiness are usually classified as "idiopathic hypersomniacs" and treated symptomatically. A group of these subjects was investigated during nocturnal sleep and daytime naps. In a subgroup of them, sleep was fragmented by very short alpha EEG arousals throughout the sleeping period.

Long-term nasal continuous positive airway pressure administration can normalize hypertension in obstructive sleep apnea patients.

We investigated the way in which nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) affects the circadian profiles of blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) patients. Nine patients with OSAS, confirmed by nocturnal polysomnography, were studied with ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (Colin ABPM-630) during two 48-hour periods, before and during nasal CPAP treatment, at the Stanford University Sleep Disorders Clinic. During each 48-hour monitoring period, blood pressure measurements were taken by the ambulatory device every 30 minutes.

Cardiac failure and benzodiazepines.

Nine patients with stable cardiac failure and mean left ventricular ejection fraction of 30% were investigated. All had previously been prescribed a benzodiazepine hypnotic by their home physicians, but the medication had been discontinued for at least 1 month. Subjects were monitored under three conditions: 1) without any sleeping medication, 2) during nasal CPAP administration and 3) at two points during a month-long administration of the benzodiazepine that had initially been prescribed to them.

Light therapy as treatment of dyschronosis in brain impaired children.

Fourteen children aged 9 months-4 years with moderate to severe mental retardation and varying neurologic lesions were referred for severe and continuous nocturnal sleep disturbances and very abnormal day/night schedules. All children had previously been given hypnotic medications and behavioral treatments which had little or no effect on nocturnal sleep. The severity of the sleep disturbances significantly affected family life and was a major handicap to the children.

Upper airway resistance in infants at risk for sudden infant death syndrome.

To investigate the relationship between sudden infant death syndrome and upper airway obstruction, we studied 14 term infants at a mean age of 11 weeks who had been identified as being at risk for sudden infant death syndrome on the basis of clinical and family histories and polygraphic monitoring. Respiratory efforts during sleep were investigated by esophageal pressure monitoring (all 14 infants) and by monitoring of flow with a pneumotachometer (6 infants). During apparently normal sleep, increased respiratory efforts were shown by intermittent increases in the magnitude of the negativity of esophageal pressure.

Daytime somnolence: therapeutic approaches.

Excessive daytime somnolence is a major neurological problem involving about 4% of the general population. Its treatment is based on accurate etiological dissection. Sleep-disordered breathing is a major cause of EDS.

Aging, respiratory efforts during sleep, and pulsus paradoxus.

Forty patients with either obstructive sleep apnea syndrome or a clinical complaint of daytime sleepiness with measured nocturnal increase in upper airway resistance and snoring were investigated during sleep for the presence of pulsus paradoxus, which is defined as a decrease in systolic blood pressure (SBP) of at least 10 mmHg during inspiration. Two thirds of the subjects presented pulsus paradoxus. Age, lowest oxygen saturation (SaO2), and negative inspiratory esophageal pressure nadir (an index of inspiratory effort) were the only studied variables which could statistically dissociate patients presenting pulsus paradoxus.

Objective measurements of daytime sleepiness and performance comparing quazepam with flurazepam in two adult populations using the Multiple Sleep Latency Test.

Daytime residual drowsiness and psychomotor performance were assessed for two long half-life benzodiazepines, quazepam and flurazepam, in two randomized, parallel, and double-blind studies in insomniacs. Seventeen middle-aged patients took quazepam 15 mg or 30 mg, or flurazepam 30 mg; the 47-night study included 4 placebo baseline nights, 28 consecutive treatment nights, and 15 posttreatment nights. Forty-eight geriatric patients took either flurazepam 15 mg, quazepam 15 mg, or placebo; the 15-night study included 1 placebo baseline night, 7 treatment nights, and 7 posttreatment nights.