Bostanci A, et al. – The aim of this propensity–matched analysis was to determine the effect of age on intermittent hypoxia in obstructive sleep apnea. It was observed in the findings that elderly patients displayed more severe and deeper nocturnal intermittent hypoxia than the younger adults, independent of severity of obstructive sleep apnea, body mass index (BMI), gender, and neck circumference. The findings suggested that hypoxia–related polysomnographic variables in geriatric patients may, in fact, reflect a physiological aging process rather than the severity of a sleep–disordered breathing (SDB).

Methods

• This research was conducted utilizing clinical and polysomnographic data of one thousand, two hundred eighty consecutive patients who underwent complete polysomnographic evaluation for suspected SDB at a single sleep disorder center.
• After that, a propensity score-matched analysis was performed to obtain matched cohorts of geriatric and non-geriatric patients, which resulted in successful matching of one hundred sixty-eight patients from each group.

Results

• The results of this investigation showed that study groups were comparable for gender (P = 0.999), BMI (P = 0.940), neck circumference (P = 0.969), apnea–hypopnea index {AHI} (P = 0.935), and severity of SDB (P = 0.089).
• It was noted that the oximetric variables representing the duration of chronic intermittent hypoxia such as mean (P = 0.001), the longest (P = 0.001) and total apnea durations (P = 0.003), mean (P = 0.001) and the longest hypopnea durations (P = 0.001), and total sleep time with oxygen saturation below 90% (P = 0.008) were significantly higher in the geriatric patients as compared with younger adults.
• Findings revealed that geriatric patients had significantly lower minimum (P = 0.013) and mean oxygen saturation (P = 0.001) as compared to non-geriatric patients.