Umeå University's logo

Objective: To evaluate the effects of a mandibular advancement device on apneas and sleep in, mild, moderate and severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Design: Prospective study.

Subjects: Forty-four of 47 patients included.

Intervention: Individually adjusted mandibular advancement devices.

Measurements: Polysomnographic sleep recordings for 1 night without the device and 1 night with it, with a median of 1 day and no changes in weight, medication, or sleep position between the recordings.

Results: The device reduced the median apnea-hypopnea index from 11 (range, 7 to 19) to 5 (range, 0 to 17) (p<0.001) in 21 patients with mild sleep apnea, from 27 (range, 20 to 38) to 7 (range 1 to 19) (p<0.001) in 15 patients with moderate sleep apnea, and from 53 (range 44 to 66) to 14 (range, 2 to 32) (p=<0.05) in 8 patients with severe sleep apnea. The arousal index decreased and the sleep stage patterns improved in all severity groups. Twenty-eight of 44 patients were successfully treated with an obstructive apnea-hypopnea index of below 10 and a subjective reduction in snoring. Nine of 16 patients with treatment failure still reported a reduction in snoring. The success rate correlated inversely to the disease severity (r=-0.41; p<0.01).

Conclusions: A mandibular advancement device reduces apnea and improves sleep quality in patients with obstructive sleep apnea, especially in those with mild and moderate disease. A follow-up sleep recording during treatment is necessary because of the risk of silent obstructive apneas without subjective snoring with the device.

Background: Sleep apnea occurs frequently among stroke patients, but it is still unknown whether a diagnosis of sleep apnea is an independent risk factor for mortality. We aimed to investigate whether obstructive or central sleep apnea was related to a reduced long-term survival among stroke patients.

Methods: One hundred and thirty-two of 151 patients admitted for in-hospital stroke rehabilitation in the catchment area of Umeå from 1 April 1995 to 1 May 1997 underwent overnight sleep apnea recordings at 23 ± 8 days after onset of stroke. All patients were followed-up prospectively for a mean (SD) of 10.0 ± 0.6 years, with death as the primary outcome and no one was lost to follow-up. Obstructive sleep apnea was defined when the obstructive apnea-hypopnea index was over 15 and central sleep apnea when the central apnea-hypopnea index was over 15. Patients with an obstructive and a central apnea-hypopnea index below 15 served as controls.

Results: Of 132 enrolled patients, 116 had died at follow-up. The risk of death was higher among the 23 patients with obstructive sleep apnea than controls (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.76; 95% confidence interval 1.05 to 2.95, p=0.03), independent of age, gender, body-mass index, smoking, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, atrial fibrillation, mini-mental state examination and Barthel activity of daily living There was no difference in mortality between the 28 patients with central sleep apnea and controls (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.07; 95 percent confidence interval 0.65 to 1.76, p=0.053).

Conclusions: Stroke patients with obstructive sleep apnea run an increased risk of early death. Central sleep apnea was not related to early death among the present patients.

Objectives: To define normal values for total sleep time, sleep latency, sleep efficiency, sleep stages and sleeping positions in women and to investigate how sleep is affected by age, obesity, sleep apnea, smoking, alcohol dependency and hypertension.

Methods: In a population-based study, 400 Swedish women aged 20-70 years were investigated using overnight in-home polysomnography.

Results: The mean normal total sleep time was 392 minutes, sleep latency 22 minutes and sleep efficiency 82%. Women spent 31 minutes in sleep stage 1, 244 minutes in stage 2, 41 minutes in stage 3-4 and 76 minutes in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. They spent 41% of their sleep time in the supine position, 50% in the lateral position and 9% in the prone position. Multivariate analyses revealed that sleep efficiency was lower in older women and in women with hypertension. Sleep latency was short in women with severe sleep apnea and long in smokers, alcohol-dependent and hypertensive women. Total sleep time was long in severe sleep apnea. Sleep stage 3-4 was inversely related to age and body-mass index. Less REM sleep occurred in alcohol-dependent women. Women younger than 45 years old slept a mean of 42% in the lateral position while women of 45 years and older slept 57% in the lateral position (p<0.001).

Conclusions: In this population-based study of women, we present normal values for sleep stages and sleeping position. We conclude that age, body-mass index, obstructive sleep apnea, smoking, alcohol and hypertension reduce sleep quality. With age, women spend more time sleeping in the lateral position.