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Sleep and Breathing
Published in: Sleep and Breathing 3/2012

01-09-2012 | Original Article

Influence of the right- versus left-sided sleeping position on the apnea-hypopnea index in patients with sleep apnea

Authors: Ozcan Ozeke, Ozcan Erturk, Mutlu Gungor, Serap Bılen Hızel, Dilek Aydın, Mehmet Kutlu Celenk, Hazim Dıncer, Gurler Ilıcın, Fuat Ozgen, Can Ozer

Published in: Sleep and Breathing | Issue 3/2012

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Abstract

Purpose

Sleep and sleep position have a significant impact on physical, cardiac and mental health, and have been evaluated in numerous studies particularly in terms of lateral sleeping positions and their association with diseases. We retrospectively examined the relationship between the sleeping position and position-specific apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) in obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea (OSA) patients.

Methods

We assessed the sleeping body position and the body position-specific AHI score in patients who were referred for suspected OSA and underwent diagnostic nocturnal polysomnography. In order to eliminate inter-individual differences, only those who had a similar percentage of time spent in the LSSP and RSSP for each patient were enrolled. To provide this validity, only subjects that had a similar percentage of left and right lateral sleep time (±10%) were included in the analysis.

Results

A total of 864 patients had nocturnal diagnostic PSG. Of them, 131 patients met the inclusion criteria. The percent rate spent in the supine sleeping position (SSP) was 31.3 ± 18.7%, in the LSSP was 31.8 ± 10% and in the RSSP was 32.6 ± 10.8%. Whereas the SSP-specific AHI score was the highest with 60.4 ± 36.2/h among all the sleeping position-specific AHI scores (p < 0.001), the LSSP-specific AHI score was statistically higher than that for RSSP (30.2 ± 32.6/h vs. 23.6 ± 30.1/h; p < 0.001). When comparing individuals sub-grouped based on OSA severity, there was a statistically significant difference between the LSSP-specific AHI score and RSSP-specific AHI score in patients with severe (p = 0.002) and moderate (p = 0.026), but not mild (p = 0.130) OSA.

Conclusion

We found that the sleeping position had a significant influence on apneic events and RSSP decreased the frequency of obstructive respiratory events in patients with moderate and severe disease.
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Metadata
Title
Influence of the right- versus left-sided sleeping position on the apnea-hypopnea index in patients with sleep apnea
Authors
Ozcan Ozeke
Ozcan Erturk
Mutlu Gungor
Serap Bılen Hızel
Dilek Aydın
Mehmet Kutlu Celenk
Hazim Dıncer
Gurler Ilıcın
Fuat Ozgen
Can Ozer
Publication date
01-09-2012
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Sleep and Breathing / Issue 3/2012
Print ISSN: 1520-9512
Electronic ISSN: 1522-1709
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-011-0547-4

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