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. 2022 Oct 29;19(21):14147.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph192114147.

Does REM Sleep-Dependent Obstructive Sleep Apnea Have Clinical Significance?

Seung Cheol Lee  1 , Doh-Eui Kim  1 , Young Hwangbo  2 , Mei Ling Song  3 , Kwang Ik Yang  1 , Yong Won Cho  4
Affiliations

Does REM Sleep-Dependent Obstructive Sleep Apnea Have Clinical Significance?

Seung Cheol Lee et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

(1) Background: The clinical significance of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep-dependent obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) remains controversial because various criteria have been used to describe it. This study determined the clinical significance of REM-OSA in Koreans using data from patients with sufficient total sleep time (TST) and REM sleep duration. (2) Methods: We investigated 1824 patients with OSA who were diagnosed by polysomnography (PSG). REM-OSA was defined as an overall apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 5, NREM-AHI < 15, and REM-AHI/NREM-AHI ≥ 2. Demographic and medical data were collected from digital medical records and sleep questionnaires. We compared clinical and PSG data between REM-OSA and REM sleep-nondependent OSA (nREM-OSA). (3) Results: In total, 140 patients (20.2%) were categorized as REM-OSA. Those patients were predominantly female (53.6% vs. 21.7% of the overall cohort, p < 0.001). REM-OSA is frequent in the mild (69.3% vs. 18.8%) to moderate (30% vs. 27.9%) range of OSA (p < 0.001). (4) Conclusions: The prevalence of REM-OSA was similar to that in previous study findings: frequent in mild to moderate OSA and females, which is consistent with results in Western populations. Our findings suggest that REM-OSA does not have clinical significance as a subtype of OSA.

Keywords: Korea; REM sleep; obstructive sleep apnea; polysomnography.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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