The association of sleep-disordered breathing with high cerebral pulsatility might not be related to diffuse small vessel disease. A pilot study

BACKGROUND: In a population-based sampling study conducted in community-dwelling older adults living in rural Ecuador, we aimed to assess the relation among sleep-disordered breathing, cerebral pulsatility index, and diffuse small vessel disease. METHODS: Of 25 participants, 9 (36 %) had moderate-to-severe sleep-disordered breathing, characterized by an apnea/hypopnea index ≥15 per hour, and 10 (40 %) had moderate-to-severe white matter hyperintensities, graded according to the modified Fazekas scale. Mean (SD) pulsatility index in the middle cerebral artery was 1.18 (0.19) and positively correlated with the apnea/hypopnea index (R = .445, P = .03, [Pearson’s correlation coefficient]). The middle cerebral artery pulsatility index was increased in persons with moderate-to-severe sleep-disordered breathing compared with persons who had none-to-mild sleep-disordered breathing (mean [SD] 1.11 [0.12] vs. 1.3 [0.23], P = .01). No significant differences were found in the prevalence of moderate-to-severe white matter hyperintensities across groups of sleep-disordered breathing (P = .40) or in the mean apnea/hypopnea index across groups of persons with none-to-mild or moderate-to-severe white matter hyperintensities (P = .16). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study shows that moderate-to-severe sleep-disordered breathing correlates with cerebral pulsatility, but such association might be independent of diffuse small vessel disease.