Objective: To investigate nocturnal sleep breathing disturbance in patients with ischemic cerebral stroke.
Methods: Forty-one patients with cerebral infarction undertook all-night screening of sleep breathing. The clinical features between cerebral infarction concomitant with mild and severe sleep breathing disturbance were compared, and the effects of different infarcted sites and sizes, the infarction history and symptoms on the breathing disorders were analyzed.
Results: The history of cerebral infarction was significantly shorter in patients with AHI greater than 20 (P < 0.01) whose breathing frequencies were also significantly lower (P = 0.043). Breathing disturbance was remarkably severe in patients with brainstem involvement (P = 0.045), with larger infarctions and with abnormalities of ingestion, pharyngeal reflex, speech, tongue thrust, consciousness, and motion coordination.
Conclusions: Newer cerebral infarctions are commonly accompanied with relatively severe breathing disturbance. The occurrence of hypopnea would increase when brainstem is involved, and more severe breathing disturbance is associated with larger infarctions. The functioning abnormalities of tissues surrounding the upper airways resulted from infarctions are considered to be involved in the exacerbation of sleep disturbance.