Understanding the Connection Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Rapid Eye Movement Sleep

Background: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is characterized by the presence of airflow interruptions in the airways during sleep. The relationship between OSA and Metabolic Syndrome (MS) is close and bidirectional, with a higher prevalence of SM observed in patients with OSA. Objective: This study was interesting to analysis the correlation between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and rapid eye movement sleep. Patients and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 110 patients to determine the extent of the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and rapid eye movement sleep, as most of the ages were between 30 - 50 years, which were collected from different hospitals in Iraq for the period from March 2, 2022, to August 28, 2023. This study identified data and parameters for sleep disturbance scores and apnea time scores and their impact on quality of life in the long term. Results: The results of polysomnographic parameters in the patient group found TST (min) was 374.5 ± 66.8, MAI (MA/h) was 24.7 ± 8.5, NREM 1 (min) was 123.41 ± 49.62, NREM 2 (min) was 182.58 ± 54.83, TST. (min) was 365.2 ± 56.8, MAI (MA/h) was 10.3 ± 4.6, NREM 1 (min) was 57.92 ± 27.35, NREM 2 (min) was 208.75 ± 41.75. According to the results of the Trial Making Test (TMT) in the patient group, TMT – A for males was 50.25 ± 12.46 and 57.41 ± 19.20 for females, while TMT – B was 105.37 ± 49.18 for males and 134.58 ± 50.40 for females. According to the results of the Trial Making Test (TMT) in the control group, TMT – A for males was 23.17 ± 6.44 and 25.41 ± 3.35 for females, while TMT – B was 27.51 ± 4.33 for males and 29.28 ± 5.52 for females. Conclusion: Improving knowledge of the relationship between sleep apnea is basic and important to enhance the quality of life of patients who suffer from it. Besides TMT performance, our results found that men had slightly better performance compared with women on TMT-B for both groups.