Background and Purpose-Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is frequent in stroke patients. Risk factors, treatment response, short-term and long-term outcome of SDB in stroke patients are poorly known. Methods-We prospectively studied 152 patients (mean age 56Ϯ13 years) with acute ischemic stroke. Cardiovascular risk factors, Epworth sleepiness score (ESS), stroke severity/etiology, and time of stroke onset were assessed. The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was determined 3Ϯ2 days after stroke onset and 6 months later (subacute phase). Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment was started acutely in patients with SDB (AHI Ն15 or AHI Ն10ϩESS Ͼ10). CPAP compliance, incidence of vascular events, and stroke outcome were assessed 60Ϯ16 months later (chronic phase). Results-Initial AHI was 18Ϯ16 (Ն10 in 58%, Ն30 in 17% of patients) and decreased in the subacute phase (PϽ0.001).Age, diabetes, and nighttime stroke onset were independent predictors of AHI (r 2 ϭ0.34). In patients with AHI Ն30, age, male gender, body mass index, diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, ESS, and macroangiopathic etiology of stroke were significantly higher/more common than in patients with AHI Ͻ10. Long-term incidence of vascular events and stroke outcome were similar in both groups. CPAP was started in 51% and continued chronically in 15% of SDB pts. Long-term stroke mortality was associated with initial AHI, age, hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. Conclusions-SDB is common particularly in elderly stroke male patients with diabetes, nighttime stroke onset, and macroangiopathy as cause of stroke; it improves after the acute phase, is associated with an increased poststroke mortality, and can be treated with CPAP in a small percentage of patients. (Stroke. 2006;37:967-972.)

To determine if patients with nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) have sleep apnea syndrome (SAS), an entity characterized by repetitive upper airway obstructions during sleep, inducing hypoxia and sleep disruption. Methods: We recruited 17 patients with NAION and 17 age-and sex-matched controls from patients referred for treatment because of suspected restless legs syndrome. We performed overnight polysomnography and determined the respiratory disturbance index during night sleep, a value used to diagnose and grade SAS. We compared the proportions of patients with SAS among patients with NAION and matched controls using the 2 test. Additionally, we compared the proportions of patients with SAS among patients with NAION and a large SAS prevalence study using the binomial test. Results: Twelve (71%) of 17 patients with NAION had SAS. According to the respiratory disturbance index, 4 patients (24%) had mild, 4 patients (24%) had moderate, and 4 patients (24%) had severe SAS. Only 3 (18%) of 17 controls had SAS (P =.005). In the 45-to 64-year age group, 4 (50%) of 8 patients with NAION had SAS; 51 (11.9%) of 430 of the random sample in the prevalence study had SAS (P =.005). In the group older than 64 years, 8 (89%) of 9 patients with NAION had SAS; 18 (24%) of 75 of the random sample in the prevalence study had SAS (PϽ.001). Conclusions: We found a high prevalence of SAS in patients with NAION, which supports previous case reports suggesting that such an association exists. This association may explain why approximately 75% of all patients with NAION discover visual loss on first awakening or when they first use vision critically after sleeping. Our findings indicate that SAS may play an important role in the pathogenesis of NAION.

Paramedian thalamic stroke (PTS) is a cause of organic hypersomnia, which in the absence of systematic sleep-wake studies has been attributed to disruption of ascending activating impulses and considered a "dearoused" state. However, an increasing mount of data suggests a role of the thalamus in sleep regulation and raises the possibility that a sleep disturbance contributes to hypersomnia in PTS. We evaluated 12 patients with magnetic resonance imaging-proven isolated PTS and hypersomnia with 10 to >20 hours of sleep behavior per day. Nocturnal polysomnographic findings paralleled the severity of hypersomnia. All subjects had increased stage 1 NREM sleep, reduced stage 2 NREM sleep, and reduced numbers of sleep spindles. In patients with severe hypersomnia, slow-wave (stages 3-4) NREM sleep was often reduced, but there were no major REM sleep alterations. Daytime sleep behavior was associated mostly with stage 1 sleep by electroencephalogram; there was no correlation between hypersomnia and results of nap tests. We conclude that hypersomnia following PTS is accompanied by deficient arousal during the day and insufficient spindling and slow-wave sleep production at night. These observations support the hypothesis of a dual role of the paramedian thalamus as "final common pathway' for both maintenance of wakefulness and promotion of NREM sleep.

Abstract:The frequency of motor vehicle and working accidents was analyzed by means of a strictly anomymous questionnaire in 156 patients with sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) and in 160 age-gender matched controls. In the SAS group 12.4% of all drivers had motor vehicle accidents as compared to 2.9% in the control group (p<0.005). The motor vehicle accident rate was 13.0 per million km in patients with more severe SAS (AHI > 34/h, n=78) as compared to 1.1 in patients with milder SAS (AHI 10-34/h, n=78) (p<0.05), and 0.78 in control group (p<0.005), respectively. The accident rates in both patients and the control group were also greater than the rate of 0.02 "accidents due to sleepiness" per one million km in the Swiss driving population as reported by official statistics. During treatment with nasal continuous airway pressure (nCPAP) in 85 SAS patients, the motor vehicle accident rate dropped from 10.6 to 2.7 per million km (p<0.05). We conclude that patients with moderate to severe SAS have an up to fifteen-fold risk increase of motor vehicle accidents that constitutes a serious and often underestimated hazard on the roads, which can be reduced by adequate treatment.

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