https://www.mdlinx.com/internal-medicine/medical-news-article/2017/10/10/sleep-apnea-thrombolysis-stroke/7473125/?rcid=45&inrc=0
Sleep Medicine | October 10, 2017
Huhtakangas JK, et al. - The prevalence, type, and severity of
sleep apnea during the acute phase of ischemic stroke was compared among
patients either receiving or not receiving thrombolysis. In the vast
majority of ischemic stroke patients, sleep apnea was present. The
stroke patients treated with thrombolysis were more prone to have sleep
apnea, to have elevated National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale
(NIHSS) score at admission, and to be younger. Among those receiving
thrombolysis, sleep apnea was more severe as compared to those who were
not.
Methods
- A total of 246 consecutive adult ischemic stroke patients were enrolled.
- During the first 48 hours after the symptom onset of ischemic stroke, patients underwent cardiorespiratory sleep study with portable 3-channel device.
Results
- In this study, the authors recruited 110 (65.5% male) stroke patients in the thrombolysis group and 94 (59.6% male) in the nonthrombolysis group.
- The median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score was higher (5.5) in the thrombolysis group compared to the nonthrombolysis group (2.0) (p < 0.001).
- In the thrombolysis group, there was a lower incidence of lacunar (17.3% vs 36.2%, p = 0.002) and cerebellar (2.7% vs 16.0%, p < 0.001) strokes and a higher frequency of middle cerebral artery syndrome (60.9% vs 33.0%, p < 0.001) than the nonthrombolysis group.
- In 186 (91.2%) patients, sleep apnea defined as an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 5/h was diagnosed, its prevalence being higher in the thrombolysis (96.4%) compared to the nonthrombolysis (85.1%) group (p = 0.007).
- In the thrombolysis group, the mean baseline AHI was 33.7/h compared to 26.8/h in the nonthrombolysis group (p = 0.017).
