January 2011

Get Connected in 2011
The New Year is a great time for resolutions, and if you’re looking for one that will enhance your professional career, look no further than the AARC’s new social networking site, AARConnect. If you’re on the section discussion list, you already know a little about the new site and how it can help you connect with fellow members. But the section list is really just one facet of this rich networking environment. So if you’ve yet to become an AARConnect fan, click on the link and check out all the features, from blogs to resource libraries and more. And be sure to visit your own profile page while you’re there (every AARC member has one on the site) and upload a picture of yourself and provide a little information to let your colleagues know about your background and interests. GET STARTED HERE

CPAP Reduces Fatigue in Three Weeks
CPAP therapy significantly reduces fatigue in sleep apnea patients within a three week period, report researchers publishing in the January issue of Sleep. They randomized 59 men and women with OSA to therapeutic CPAP or placebo CPAP in a double-blind study conducted over a three week period. Patients who received therapeutic CPAP showed significant reductions in fatigue as measured by the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory-Short Form and the fatigue and vigor subscales of the Profile of Mood States-Short Form. Significant reductions in the apnea-hypopnea index were seen as well. Patients who reported high levels of fatigue at the beginning of the study had the most pronounced improvements. While improvements on sleepiness scores on the Epworth Sleepiness Scale were not seen with treatment in the majority of patients, scores were significant lower among a subset of patients with excessive sleepiness at the start of the trial. READ ABSTRACT

Flexible Pressure Delivery Does Not Boost CPAP Compliance
A new study out of New Zealand finds flexible pressure delivery modification of CPAP does not improve compliance with therapy. The investigators arrived at that conclusion after reviewing ten previous studies comparing flexible and standard CPAP in 599 adult OSA patients with at least one week of follow-up. Meta-analysis of seven of the trials indicated that compliance to treatment was not improved with flexible pressure, nor did flexible pressure improve any secondary outcomes. The study appeared in the Dec. 30 Epub edition of CHEST. READ ABSTRACT

RLS During Pregnancy Often Returns
Women who develop restless leg syndrome (RLS) during pregnancy may be at higher risk of having the condition return later in life or with subsequent pregnancies, find Italian researchers who followed up with 74 women who experienced RLS during pregnancy and 133 who did not six and a half years later. Among the women who had RLS during pregnancy, 24% also had the disorder at the end of the study, compared to 8% of the women who did not have RLS during pregnancy. Women with a history of RLS in pregnancy were also three times more likely to have the chronic form, and about 60% of these women reported the symptoms again in a future pregnancy, compared to 3% of those who did not have RLS during a first pregnancy. The study was published in the Dec. 7 issue of Neurology. READ PRESS RELEASE

AASM Recommendations Examined
Australian investigators publishing in this month’s Sleep suggest American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recommended EEG derivations (F4/M1, C4/M1, O2/M1) may not be necessary. Their study examined the impact of EEG derivations on polysomnography statistics using three scorers who scored separate sets of ten PSGs twice, once using three EEG derivations and once using one EEG derivation. All three scorers also scored a subset of ten PSGs four times, twice using each method, to examine the impact on inter- and intra-scorer reliability. Results showed:

  • Using three referential EEG derivations during PSG, as recommended in the AASM manual, instead of a single central EEG derivation, as originally suggested by Rechtschaffen and Kales (1968), resulted in a mean ± SE decrease in N1 sleep of 9.6 ± 3.9 min (P = 0.018) and an increase in N3 sleep of 10.6 ± 2.8 min (P = 0.001).
  • No significant differences were observed for any other sleep or arousal scoring summary statistics.
  • No differences were observed in inter-scorer or intra-scorer reliability for scoring sleep or cortical arousals. The authors conclude, “As the use of multiple EEG derivations only led to small changes in the distribution of derived sleep stages and no significant differences in scoring reliability, this study calls into question the need to use multiple EEG derivations in clinical PSG as suggested in the AASM manual.” READ ABSTRACT


 

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