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Summary: Prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI]⩾5) in acute stroke patients ranges between 44% and 95%, compared to the community prevalence, 9 to 35% for women and 8 to 57% for men [age range 30–60 years]. Limited data exists beyond 3 months following stroke. We assessed the prevalence of SDB amongst stroke survivors at 3 years and compared results to data reported in normal and elderly populations. 90/143 eligible stroke survivors from an existing cohort underwent a home based sleep study. Mean age of the 78 subjects with a valid sleep study was 64 years (SD 15). Prevalence of SDB (AHI⩾5) was 81% (95% CI 72% to 90%) and sleep apnoea syndrome (AHI⩾5 plus ESS score⩾11) was 20% (95% CI 11% to 29%). Important predictors for AHI⩾15 were haemorrhagic stroke (aOR12.06 [1.42–102.74]) and stroke severity at 1 month (aOR4.15 [1.05–16.38]). Large case-control studies are needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study investigated the possible factors related to the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) mean sleep latency. A second analysis explored the characteristics of subjects who had discrepant Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and MWT scores. A total of 151 subjects (110 mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) patients and 41 control subjects) were recruited for the study. The subjects completed an overnight Polysomnography (PSG), MWT, cognitive, performance and vigilance tasks and answered self-report questionnaires on mood and sleepiness. A forward stepwise multiple regression was performed on MWT mean sleep latency. The predictor variables age ( r = 0.28), subjective sleep history for 1 week prior to MWT (sleep diary; r = 0.19) and number of >4% SaO2 Dips during the PSG ( r = −0.21) best explained the MWT results, but only accounted for 12.8% of the variance in the test. It was found that 33% of subjects had discrepant ESS and MWT scores. A new variable was created to analyse these subjects (MWT/ESS discrepancy score; MED). A forward stepwise multiple regression analysis found that depression, performance errors and sleep disordered breathing explained 13.4% of the variance in MED scores. The MWT is a complex behavioural test whose scores do not seem to have a very robust relationship with potential predictors and co-correlates. Further comprehensive study is needed if the test is to be used in a diagnostically meaningful way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]