This ongoing cross-sectional study aims to examine the potential association between moderate-to-severe sleep apnea and severe cardiovascular dysfunction after spinal cord injury (SCI).
This cross-sectional study included participants who were newly diagnosed with sleep apnea using a home-based/hospital unattended sleep screening test that quantifies the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). Episodes of AD were defined as a sudden increase in systolic blood pressure (BP) of at least 20 mmHg. We exclude episodes of AD during sleep that were caused by triggers other than apnea or hypopnea.
This study included English-speaking adults with subacute or chronic (≥1 month after SCI onset), cervical or high-thoracic (T6 or more cranial), complete or incomplete SCI, who reported clinical symptoms and/or signs suggestive of sleep apnea.
This study included 45 individuals (14 females and 31 males; age range: 20 to 84 years, mean age: 57.0 years) with motor complete (n=22) or incomplete SCI at cervical (n=38) or high thoracic levels. Time since SCI varied from 1.5 months to 52 years. Their mean apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was 16.0 events/hour (AHI range: 0.8 to 51.7 events/hour). Higher AHI was significantly correlated with more frequent silent episodes of AD (Rsqr=0.220, p=0.001) during sleep. The AHI was not associated with systolic BP (p=0.903), diastolic BP (p=0.639), mean arterial pressure (p=0.714), and heart rate (p=0.669) during sleep.
The results of this cross-sectional study suggest that more severe sleep apnea is associated with frequent silent episodes of AD during sleep among individuals living with cervical or high-thoracic SCI.
