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Non-REM sleep-disordered breathing affects performance on the psychomotor vigilance task

  • Sleep Breathing Physiology and Disorders • Original Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Although many studies have investigated the clinical importance of sleep apnea on rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM (NREM) sleep, the relationship between behavioral performance and apneic events during different sleep phases remains unclear. In the present study, we sought to investigate the effect of sleep phase fragmentation due to sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) during REM and NREM on the vigilance and sustainability of attention based on psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) performance.

Methods

From a pool of subjects who underwent consecutive diagnostic polysomnography (PSG) for obstructive sleep apnea, 163 adult subjects with both REM and NREM sleep ≥ 30 min were enrolled for our study and performed a standardized 10-min PVT. The main outcome variables of the PVT were mean reaction time (RT), PVT Lapse count, and the slope of the reciprocal RT. Subjective sleepiness was measured using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).

Results

After multivariate linear regression analysis with adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, and the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) of the counterpart sleep phase, we found that AHI during NREM (AHINREM) compared to AHI during REM (AHIREM) was significantly associated with PVT lapses.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that SDB during NREM has a significant impact on vigilance lapses compared to that of REM.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the staff of the Department of Sleep Medicine of the Shiga University of Medical Science for logistical support.

Funding

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (no. 21390461) from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1, Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu, 807-8555, Japan

    Takuro Kitamura, Harun Bin Sulaiman, Shoko Takeuchi, Takahisa Tabata & Hideaki Suzuki

  2. Research Institute of Life and Sciences, Chubu University, Kasugai, Japan

    Soichiro Miyazaki

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Shiga University of Medical Science, Otsu, Japan

    Hiroshi Kadotani & Takashi Kanemura

Authors
  1. Takuro Kitamura
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  2. Soichiro Miyazaki
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  3. Hiroshi Kadotani
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  4. Takashi Kanemura
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  5. Harun Bin Sulaiman
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  6. Shoko Takeuchi
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  7. Takahisa Tabata
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  8. Hideaki Suzuki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takuro Kitamura.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethical Committee of the Shiga University of Medical Science and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Funding

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (no. 21390461) from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Kitamura, T., Miyazaki, S., Kadotani, H. et al. Non-REM sleep-disordered breathing affects performance on the psychomotor vigilance task. Sleep Breath 22, 329–335 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-017-1553-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-017-1553-y

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