title: Sleep-disordered breathing in alcoholics: association with age.
abstract: Sleep apnea and related disorders are not uncommon in abstinent alcoholics. We assessed the relationship between age and the presence and severity of sleep-disordered breathing in alcoholism by performing one night of polysomnography on 75 abstinent alcoholic subjects undergoing treatment for alcoholism. Sleep-disordered breathing (defined as 10 or more apneas plus hypopneas/hr of sleep) was present in 17% of 66 men aged 22-76 and in 0 of 9 women aged 28-63 years. Three percent of men under age 40 years had sleep-disordered breathing compared with 25% of men between ages 40-59 and 75% of those above age 60. Although alcoholics with sleep-disordered breathing had a higher body mass index than those without, the increased frequency over age 40 was statistically significant after controlling for the effects of body mass index. Sleep in subjects with sleep-disordered breathing was significantly more disturbed than in subjects without sleep-disordered breathing. Our findings suggest that sleep-disordered breathing in older male alcoholics is more prevalent than has been reported in most studies of normal men and that the increase in sleep-disordered breathing that occurs with age in alcoholics is greater than the age-related increase in sleep-disordered breathing that occurs in healthy elderly men. Furthermore, sleep-disordered breathing is a significant contributor to sleep disturbance in a substantial proportion of male alcoholics above the age of 40 years.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan Alcohol Research Center, Ann Arbor.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Aldrich
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Shipley
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tandon
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Kroll
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Brower
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000187:drug effects; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology