Chest ACCP Career Connection
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Guest Access | Sign In via User Name/Password
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Free
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Free
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Article Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kowallik, P.
Right arrow Articles by Wirtz, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kowallik, P.
Right arrow Articles by Wirtz, H.
(Chest. 2001;119:451-459.)
© 2001 American College of Chest Physicians

Breath-to-Breath Variability Correlates With Apnea-Hypopnea Index in Obstructive Sleep Apnea*

Peter Kowallik, MD; Ilka Jacobi, MD; Alexander Jirmann, MD; Malte Meesmann, MD; Michael Schmidt, MD and Hubert Wirtz, MD

* From the Department of Medicine (Drs. Kowallik, Jacobi, Jirmann, Meesmann, and Schmidt), University of Würzburg, Würzburg; and the Department of Medicine (Dr. Wirtz), University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.

Correspondence to: Peter Kowallik, MD, Medizinische Universitätsklinik, Josef-Schneider-Str. 2, D-97080 Würzburg, Germany; e-mail: kowallik{at}mail.uni-wuerzburg.de

Background: Breathing in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is frequently interrupted by periods of hypopnea and apnea. There is limited information regarding a possible disturbance of breathing outside these periods.

Study objective: To analyze the degree of breathing disturbance during nonocclusion.

Design: Prospective determination of breathing variability during full polysomnographic sleep studies.

Patients: Breath-to-breath variation was monitored in 34 patients with OSA and in 9 healthy subjects.

Measurements and results: All breath-to-breath intervals were automatically analyzed from flow signal, displayed, and manually corrected for artifacts. Distribution of all nonapneic breath intervals was analyzed for the extent of difference from a normal distribution pattern by specifying kurtosis. In untreated OSA patients, kurtosis was significantly reduced (0.0 ± 0.5, mean ± SD) compared to control subjects (0.8 ± 0.5), indicating increased variability of nonoccluded breathing. This effect was present in all sleep stages, and the extent depended significantly on the degree of disease. Continuous positive airway pressure breathing was able to normalize kurtosis (1.0 ± 0.9) immediately.

Conclusions: Breathing in OSA is not only characterized by interruptions of breathing during occlusion, but by a greater variation in the pattern of normal-length breaths.

Key Words: airflow obstruction • breathing variability • continuous positive airway pressure • obstructive sleep apnea




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Eur Respir JHome page
M. Miyata, N. Burioka, T. Sako, H. Suyama, Y. Fukuoka, K. Tomita, S. Higami, and E. Shimizu
A short daytime test using correlation dimension for respiratory movement in OSAHS
Eur. Respir. J., June 1, 2004; 23(6): 885 - 890.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2001 by the American College of Chest Physicians.