Lg. Olson et al., A COMMUNITY STUDY OF SNORING AND SLEEP-DISORDERED BREATHING - SYMPTOMS, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 152(2), 1995, pp. 707-710
Citations number
11
Categorie Soggetti
Emergency Medicine & Critical Care","Respiratory System
Four hundred forty-one subjects 34 to 69 yr of age were recruited from
a random sample of the community. The sample was biased in favor of m
en, snorers, and subjects with subjective sleep complaints. They answe
red a questionnaire and were monitored in their homes for sleep-disord
ered breathing (SDB). This report concerns the presence of symptoms as
sociated with the obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome in the subjec
ts with SDB detected in this community sample. Most of the symptoms co
mmonly recognized as occurring in OSA were associated with SDB in our
sample: snoring that disturbed the sleep of other persons, reports of
apnea, reports of gasping or choking sounds during sleep, and finding
the bedclothes in disarray in the mornings had significant univariate
associations with SDB. Nocturnal choking and morning headache were neg
atively associated with SDB. Excessive daytime somnolence (EDS) was re
ported by 41% of those with SDB, but it was also reported by 37% of sn
orers without SDB and by 37% of nonsnorers. We conclude that the sympt
oms seen in clinic patients with OSA also occur in subjects with SDB w
ho have not presented for medical attention. Enumeration of these symp
toms by questionnaire, however, is a poor test for OSA in the communit
y. EDS was reported by a higher than expected proportion of subjects n
ot affected by SDB, suggesting that causes of self-reported EDS other
than SDB may be common.