Watch peripheral arterial tonometry in the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea: influence of aging.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: To investigate the consequences of aging and associated peripheral vascular tone impairment on peripheral arterial tonometry (Watch PAT)-based sleep and respiratory disturbance analysis in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) diagnosis.

STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, nonrandomized, clinical trial.

METHODS: A total of 56 subjects with age ranges of 20 to 35 years (group I, n = 27) and 50 to 65 years (group II, n = 29) referred to the sleep laboratory for overnight polysomnography (PSG) with suspected OSA were enrolled. All patients underwent simultaneous overnight PSG and Watch PAT monitoring. The data derived from PSG and Watch PAT records, including apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), rapid eye movement (REM) AHI, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) AHI, oxygen desaturation index (ODI), mean O(2) saturation (mean O(2) sat), minimum O(2) saturation (min O(2) sat), sleep duration, and the percentages of NREM sleep stages 1-2 and 3 and of REM sleep were used for comparisons. The calculated ΔPSG-Watch PAT of the two groups were compared statistically. The correlations between the PSG-Watch PAT measurements in each group were assessed.

RESULTS: The comparison of AHI, REM AHI, NREM AHI, ODI, mean O(2) sat, min O(2) sat, NREM sleep stage 1-2, and REM sleep ΔPSG-Watch PAT between the two groups did not reveal statistical significance. The difference between the two groups in terms of ΔPSG-Watch PAT of sleep duration and sleep stage 3 was statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS: In addition to the good agreement confirmed between PSG and Watch PAT data in each group, aging did not negatively impact Watch PAT recorded data in terms of included parameters, except the difference in ΔPSG-Watch PAT of sleep stage 3, which may be attributable to aging and impaired vascular tone.