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Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: effect of respiratory events and arousal on pulse wave amplitude measured by photoplethysmography in NREM sleep

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Abstract

The objective of the study is to evaluate changes in finger pulse wave amplitude (PWA), as measured by photoplethysmography, and heart rate (HR), related to obstructive respiratory events and associated arousals during sleep. We analyzed 1,431 respiratory events in NREM sleep from 12 patients according to (1) the type of event (apnea, hypopnea, upper airway resistance episode) and (2) the duration of the associated EEG arousal (>10, 3–10, <3 s). Obstructive respiratory events provoked a relative bradycardia and vasodilation followed by HR increase and vasoconstriction. Relative PWA changes were significantly greater than HR changes. These responses differed significantly according to EEG-arousal grades (time×arousal interaction, p<0.0001), with longer arousals producing greater responses, but not to the type of respiratory event (time×event interaction, p = ns). Obstructive respiratory events provoke HR and PWA changes, the magnitude seemingly related to the intensity of central nervous activation, with PWA changes greater than HR. PWA obtained from a simple pulse oxymeter might be a valuable method to evaluate sleep fragmentation in sleep breathing disorders.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Délégation Valaisanne de la Loterie Romande for financial support and John Brunton for his help in manuscript preparation. José Haba-Rubio received for this work the Weinmann award of the French Sleep Research Society at their XVIII meeting. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sleep Laboratory, Centre Valaisan de Pneumologie, 3963, Crans-Montana, Switzerland

    José Haba-Rubio, Jean G. Frey, Alda Fernandes & Jean M. Tschopp

  2. Institute for Signal Processing Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Georges Darbellay, Jean M. Vesin & Jean P. Thiran

  3. Departments of Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland

    François R. Herrmann

Authors
  1. José Haba-Rubio
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  2. Georges Darbellay
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  3. François R. Herrmann
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  4. Jean G. Frey
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  5. Alda Fernandes
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  6. Jean M. Vesin
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  7. Jean P. Thiran
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  8. Jean M. Tschopp
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Correspondence to Jean M. Tschopp.

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Haba-Rubio, J., Darbellay, G., Herrmann, F.R. et al. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: effect of respiratory events and arousal on pulse wave amplitude measured by photoplethysmography in NREM sleep. Sleep Breath 9, 73–81 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-005-0017-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-005-0017-y

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