OXYGEN DESATURATIONS DURING EXERCISE AND SLEEP IN FIT TETRAPLEGIC PATIENTS

Objective: Tetraplegic patients are particularly at risk for respirato ry deficiencies during sleep. In a previous study, it was found that s everal patients exhibited significant oxygen desaturations during arm ergometry tests. Therefore, the issue of whether patients who desatura te during exercise would be especially at risk for having nocturnal re spiratory problems was raised. Design: Respiratory recordings in conne ction with arm ergometry tests and during sleep. Setting: Arm ergometr y tests were performed in a hospital laboratory, and sleep recordings were performed in the patients' homes. Patients: Nine C5-C6 tetraplegi c patients, aged 22 to 42 years with body mass index of 15.2 to 24.2 k g/m(2). Main Outcome Measures: Oximetry during exercise and sleep and sleep recordings. Results: During exercise, six patients desaturated 6 % to 20%. Only one patient had signs of a significant nocturnal respir atory problem with an average of eight desaturations per hour of sleep and an obstructive respiration movement pattern. Two additional patie nts (with normal oximetry during exercise) showed occasional desaturat ion below 89% during rapid eye movement sleep. Conclusion: In this stu dy, the majority of tetraplegic patients desaturated during submaximal arm exercise but not during sleep. The reason could be that the patie nts in this study were all lean and physically active, which is at var iance with previously published sleep studies. (C) 1998 by the America n Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Phys ical Medicine and Rehabilitation.