Does periodic limb movements during sleep worsen OSAS patients?!

Introduction; We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the effect of periodic limb movements during sleep (PLMS) on daytime sleepiness in patients with sleep disordered breathing especially those with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), diagnosed by polysomnography (PSG).Methods Our subjects included 120 patients who visited our institute during 2 years duration. We counted the number of Periodic Limb Movements per hour as the Periodic Limb Movements Index (PLMI) on standard PSG, and considered that periodic limb movements during sleep was present in the patients with PLMI >15/h. Non-PLMS group included those patients with PLMI ≤15/h. To assess the sleepiness of participants, we used the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). We compared the sleep parameters and sleepiness indicators between patients with PLMS and age, apnea–hypopnea index (AHI), and body mass index-matched non-PLMS control groups.Results we found that ESS scores were higher in patients with PLMS than in non-PLMS in both low AHI (≤15/h) and high AHI (>15/h) strata. However, the difference was statistically significant only in high AHI stratum (P = 0.251 and 0.01, respectively).Conclusion PLMS was associated with increased ESS especially in patients with moderate-to severe OSAS. Although the magnitude of the difference in those with AHI ≤ 15/h was smaller and statistically insignificant in the present study, this issue needs further investigation by enrolling more patients with AHI≤15/h.

Conflict of Interest

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Publication History

Article published online:
24 May 2022