Reaction time performance in upper airway resistance syndrome versus obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Stoohs, Riccardo A.; Philip, Pierre; Andries, Daniela; Finlayson, Emily V.A.; Guilleminault, Christian

doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2008.11.005

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Volume 10, Issue 9 , Pages 1000-1004, October 2009

Reaction time performance in upper airway resistance syndrome versus obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Riccardo A. Stoohs
- Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Center, Stanford, CA 94403, USA
- Somnolab – Sleep Disorders Center at the Alfried Krupp Hospital, Wittekindstr. 62, 45131 Essen-Rüttenscheid, Germany
- Corresponding author. Address: Somnolab Essen am Alfried Krupp Krankenhaus, Wittekindstr. 62, 45131 Essen-Rüttenscheid, Germany. Tel.: +49 231 94113040; fax: +49 231 94113030.
Pierre Philip
- Clinique du sommeil, CHU Pellegrin, Place Amélie Raba Léon, 33076 Bordeaux Cedex, France
Daniela Andries
- Somnolab – Sleep Disorders Center at the Alfried Krupp Hospital, Wittekindstr. 62, 45131 Essen-Rüttenscheid, Germany
Emily V.A. Finlayson
- University of Michigan, Department of General Surgery, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Christian Guilleminault
- Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic and Research Center, Stanford, CA 94403, USA

Received 20 April 2008; received in revised form 12 October 2008; accepted 1 November 2008.

Abstract

Background

Patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) are known to have an increased risk for motor vehicle crashes. They suffer from sleep-related respiratory abnormality causing repetitive arousal leading to daytime sleepiness. In turn, it has been demonstrated that sleepiness can impair human psychomotor performance causing slowing of reaction times (RTs). Patients with OSAS present with RTs comparable to young adults under the influence of blood alcohol concentrations above the legally permitted level to drive a motor vehicle. Vigilance related risk levels in patients with upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) and potential deficits in psychomotor performance are unknown.

Methods

We designed a study to compare psychomotor performance in UARS and compared it to patients with OSAS. Forty-seven UARS patients were matched by gender and age with 47 OSAS patients. All subjects completed a standardized vigilant attention task utilizing reaction time before undergoing polygraphic sleep studies.

Results

Patients with UARS presented worse psychomotor performance on most test metrics than patients with OSAS.

Conclusions

Our study results may suggest that patients with UARS may also present an increased risk for motor vehicle crashes as previously demonstrated in OSAS patients.

Keywords: Upper airway resistance syndrome, Sleep apnea syndrome, Sleepiness, Reaction time, Performance, Accidents