Does REM Sleep-Dependent Obstructive Sleep Apnea Have Clinical Significance?

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 19; no. 21; p. 14147
• Main Authors: Lee, Seung Cheol, Kim, Doh-Eui, Hwangbo, Young, Song, Mei Ling, Yang, Kwang Ik, Cho, Yong Won
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 29.10.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Apnea; Body mass index; Cardiovascular disease; Clinical significance; Diabetes; Female; Females; Heart; Humans; Hyperlipidemia; Male; Medical records; NREM sleep; Patients; Polysomnography; Prevalence; Restless legs syndrome; Sleep; Sleep apnea; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - diagnosis; Sleep disorders; Sleep, REM; Software; United States > US; obstructive sleep apnea; polysomnography; Korea; REM sleep
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192114147

(1) Background: The clinical significance of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep-dependent obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) remains controversial because various criteria have been used to describe it. This study determined the clinical significance of REM-OSA in Koreans using data from patients with sufficient total sleep time (TST) and REM sleep duration. (2) Methods: We investigated 1824 patients with OSA who were diagnosed by polysomnography (PSG). REM-OSA was defined as an overall apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 5, NREM-AHI < 15, and REM-AHI/NREM-AHI ≥ 2. Demographic and medical data were collected from digital medical records and sleep questionnaires. We compared clinical and PSG data between REM-OSA and REM sleep-nondependent OSA (nREM-OSA). (3) Results: In total, 140 patients (20.2%) were categorized as REM-OSA. Those patients were predominantly female (53.6% vs. 21.7% of the overall cohort, < 0.001). REM-OSA is frequent in the mild (69.3% vs. 18.8%) to moderate (30% vs. 27.9%) range of OSA ( < 0.001). (4) Conclusions: The prevalence of REM-OSA was similar to that in previous study findings: frequent in mild to moderate OSA and females, which is consistent with results in Western populations. Our findings suggest that REM-OSA does not have clinical significance as a subtype of OSA.