J Korean Neurol Assoc.
2017 Feb;35(1):16-21. 10.17340/jkna.2017.1.3.
Sleep Apnea Headache in Korean Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Neurology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea. neuromd@knu.ac.kr
- 2Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
- 3Department of Emergency Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
- 4Department of Oral Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Dentistry, Daegu, Korea.
- 5Brain Science and Engineering Institute, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
- KMID: 2370962
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.17340/jkna.2017.1.3
Abstract
- BACKGROUND
The prevalence of sleep apnea headache has not been established and its possible mechanism is unclear. This study evaluated the frequency of sleep apnea headache in Korean patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with the aim of identifying their clinical characteristics as well as the sleep parameters that are correlated with headache intensity.
METHODS
Between January 2005 and December 2014, 2000 patients who were referred to our sleep clinic underwent overnight polysomnography and were interviewed by a neurologist. The neurologist also reviewed the medical records and headache questionnaires of 1659 patients with OSA. We selected patients with sleep apnea headache based on diagnostic criteria of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (III beta version). Descriptive statistics were applied to analyze clinical characteristics and various sleep parameters. Pearson's correlation coefficient and single/multivariate linear regression analysis were used to identify predictors of headache intensity.
RESULTS
Sleep apnea headache was diagnosed in 139 (8.4%) of the patients in this single-center study. The diagnosed patients had male dominancy (87.8%), severe sleep apnea (mean apnea-hypopnea index [AHI]>30), and were middle-aged (mean of 43.5 years old). The ratio of the apnea-hypopnea time to the total sleep time, AHI, the oxygen desaturation index, and the arousal index were positively correlated with headache intensity. AHI was the best predictor of headache intensity in the patients with sleep apnea headache.
CONCLUSIONS
The frequency of sleep apnea headache among the Korean patients in this study was lower than in previous studies. We found that there was a strong positive correlation between OSA severity (mostly, AHI) and headache intensity in patients with sleep apnea headache.
