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BMC Neurology
Published in: BMC Neurology 1/2017

Open Access 01-12-2017 | Research article

Validation of a leg movements count and periodic leg movements analysis in a custom polysomnography system

Authors: Ambra Stefani, Anna Heidbreder, Heinz Hackner, Birgit Högl

Published in: BMC Neurology | Issue 1/2017

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Abstract

Background

Periodic leg movements (PLM) during sleep (PLMS) are considered strongly related to restless legs syndrome (RLS), and are associated with polymorphisms in RLS risk genes. Various software for automatic analysis of PLMS are available, but only few of them have been validated. Aim of this study was to validate a leg movements count and analysis integrated in a commercially available polysomnography (PSG) system against manual scoring.

Methods

Twenty RLS patients with a PLMS index > 20/h and 20 controls with a PLMS index < 5/h were included. Manual and computerized scoring of leg movements (LM) and PLM was performed according to the standard American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) criteria. LM and PLM indices during sleep and wakefulness, the rate of PLMS associated with respiratory events, intermovement interval and periodicity indices were manually and automatically scored.

Results

The correlation between manual and computerized scoring was high for all investigated parameters (Spearman correlation coefficients 0.751–0.996, p < 0.001; intraclass correlation coefficients 0.775–0.999, p < 0.001). Bland-Altman plots showed high agreement between manual and automatic analysis.

Conclusions

This study validated an automatic LM count and PLM analysis against the gold standard manual scoring according to AASM criteria. The data demonstrate that the software used in this study has an outstanding performance for computerized LM and PLM scoring, and LM and PLM indices generated with this software can be reliably integrated in the routine PSG report. This automatic analysis is also an excellent tool for research purposes.
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Metadata
Title
Validation of a leg movements count and periodic leg movements analysis in a custom polysomnography system
Authors
Ambra Stefani
Anna Heidbreder
Heinz Hackner
Birgit Högl
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Neurology / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2377
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-017-0821-6

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