Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research
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Sleep apnea and related disorders contribute to disturbed sleep in abstinent alcoholics. In an earlier report from our group, sleep-disordered breathing was common and increased with age in a cohort of 75 abstinent alcoholics. We now report an extension of the previous work that includes studies of an additional 103 abstinent alcoholics undergoing treatment for alcoholism (total sample = 188) and a comparison group of 87 normal subjects. ⋯ In a multiple linear regression analysis, age and body mass index were significant predictors of the presence of sleep-disordered breathing, whereas smoking history and duration of heavy drinking were not predictors after controlling for the effects of age and body mass index. Our findings suggest that sleep-disordered breathing contributes significantly to sleep disturbance in a substantial proportion of older alcoholics and that symptomatic sleep-disordered breathing increases with age in alcoholics. Sleep-disordered breathing, when combined with existing cardiovascular risk factors, may contribute to adverse health consequences in alcoholics.