Gender Differences Of Periodic Limb Movements During Sleep In Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Objectives: There are remarkable differences for the onset of obstructivesleep apnea (OSA) across ages between men and women based on theepidemiological evidence. These may lead to the variation in comorbid ofOSA between male and female. Approximately25-50%of OSA patients mayhave periodic limb movements during sleep (PLMS). Via age and severitymatched manner, we investigated the gender difference of PLMS in patientswith OSA.Methods: Among the patients presented at our sleep medicine centerdue to the suspicious of OSA, we initially selected182consecutive femalepatients who met the diagnostic criteria of OSA (apnea-hyponea index,AHI≥5/h), then selected182male patients with OSA, via age and AHImatched manner.Results: The mean age and AHI were52.34±11.00years old and35.99±25.33/h in male patients, and52.55±11.27years old and34.05±25.37/hin female patients, respectively. Among total observed patients with OSA, theprevalence of PLMS was20.1%and mean of PLMI was27.71±13.44/h. Theprevalence of PLMS was significantly higher in female than in male patients(24.2%vs15.9%; p <0.05), but no difference in PLMI (26.75±14.43vs29.17±11.87/h; p>0.05). The differences in the prevalence across gender weresignificant in patients with age≤55years old (23.0%(20/87) vs.10.6%(10/94)), not in patients with age>55years old (25.3%(24/95) vs.21.6%(19/88)). Binary linear regression analysis confirmed that females were morelikely to have PLMS than males (OR1.712,95%CI:1.003-2.922), particularly in patients with age≤55years old (OR2.482,95%CI:1.064-5.790). No matter in male or female, the exitence of PLMS did notchang the sleep architecture or contributed to their objective daytimesleepiness. But among female, the patients with PLMS show a signifficantlylower ESS than those without PLMS(5.77±5.54vs.7.39±5.40，p <0.05).Conclusion: The results revealed that females had greater prevalence ofPLMS in the patients with OSA than males, especially among women whowere younger than55years old. But there was scarce difference in theseverity of PLMS, nor did the existence of PLMS change the sleeparchitecture or the daytime sleepiness no matter in male or female.