Eur Respir J 2002; 19:1194-1201
Copyright ©ERS Journals Ltd 2002
Sleep and breathing in neuromuscular disease
S.C. Bourke and
G.J. Gibson
University of Newcastle, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
CORRESPONDENCE: S.C. Bourke, Sir William Leech Centre for Lung Research, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7DN, UK. Fax: 44 1912132690. E-mail: sbourke@doctors.org.uk
Keywords: neuromuscular diseases, polysomnography, respiratory muscles, sleep
Received: August 10, 2001
Accepted January 8, 2002
Respiratory muscle weakness in neuromuscular disease causes significant morbidity and mortality. The published data on respiratory muscle activity and breathing during sleep in normal subjects, the impact of respiratory muscle weakness on sleep and breathing and the relations to daytime respiratory function in neuromuscular disease are reviewed here. In normal subjects during sleep upper airway resistance increases, chemosensitivity is reduced and the wakefulness drive to breathe is lost, resulting in a fall in ventilation. During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, ribcage and accessory breathing muscles are suppressed, particularly during bursts of eye movements, and breathing is more irregular, rapid and shallow, with a further fall in ventilation.
In subjects with respiratory muscle weakness sleep is fragmented, with shorter total sleep time, frequent arousals, an increase in stage 1 sleep and a reduction in, or complete suppression of, REM sleep. Sleepdisordered breathing and nocturnal desaturation are common and most severe during REM sleep. Correlations between daytime respiratory function and nocturnal desaturation are moderate or weak, but daytime respiratory function has greater prognostic value than nocturnal measurements.
Noninvasive ventilation improves sleep quality and breathing in subjects with respiratory muscle weakness. However, the optimal criteria for initiation of ventilation and its role in rapidly progressive neuromuscular diseases are unclear.
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Copyright © 2002 by the European Respiratory Society.
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