Geriatric sleep apnea syndrome: A preliminary description

D. T.R. Berry, B. A. Phillips, Y. R. Cook, F. A. Schmitt, N. A. Honeycutt, A. A. Arita, R. S. Allen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

We compared 8 patients diagnosed with geriatric sleep apnea syndrome (GSAS) with 12 healthy older controls (GCON) matched on age, sex, weight, education, and socioeconomic standing. GSAS was diagnosed if patients had an apnea + hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 10 and an impairment involving at least two of the following: hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, or daytime hypersomnolence. In addition to significant differences on selection variables (e.g., AHI, frequency of hypertension, Multiple Sleep Latency Test), GSAS patients had significantly more sleep disturbance, were sleepier on subjective measures, were more depressed, and had lower scores on tests of nonverbal problem solving and nonverbal memory. Thus, GSAS resembles SAS described in middle-aged populations. More research is needed to determine the most efficient diagnostic parameters for identifying pathological levels of SDB in older persons.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)M169-M174
JournalJournals of Gerontology
Volume45
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1990

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Aging

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