title: The use of spectral measures of heart rate variability to differentiate between male snorers and patients with sleep apnoea syndrome.
abstract: Snoring is a characteristic feature of habitual snorers and patients with sleep apnoea syndrome. However, unlike snorers, sleep apnoea patients have an increased peri-operative morbidity. Presently available methods to differentiate between these two groups are either expensive, invasive or time consuming. As cardiac reflexes are impaired in sleep apnoea syndrome, we tested whether heart rate variability could discriminate between snorers and patients with sleep apnoea syndrome. Heart rate variability measurement detects cardiac autonomic dysfunction non-invasively in an ambulatory setting. We studied 32 male patients undergoing polysomnography for suspected sleep apnoea. Total, low- and high-frequency power were measured using a Holter electrocardiogram. Differences in night- and daytime variability were then calculated. Differences between day and night values were more pronounced in the sleep apnoea group and related to the apnoea-hypopnoea-index and low oxygen saturation. Higher values in sleep apnoea patients resulted from increasing variability at night. Heart rate variability might thus help to differentiate between snorers and patients with severe sleep apnoea syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18, A-1090 Vienna, Austria. dworschak@univie.ac.at
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dworschak
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Maurer
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Haschemian
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Rapp
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Waschke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D020211:Autonomic Dysreflexia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012913:Snoring / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric