Variation in the duration of arousal in obstructive sleep apnea

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the duration of arousal and the type, duration and minSaO(2) of apneas/hypopneas, and the time of night and sleep stage when they occurred. We measured the duration of arousals associated with apneas (A) and hypopneas (H) in 10 polysomnographic recording. Arousals were categorized as: 1) Short Electroencephalographic Arousal (SEA: 3-15 s) and 2) Awakenings (>15 s). The dependent variable for multiple logistic regression analysis was duration of arousal (0 = 3-11 s, 1 = >11 s); the independent variables were event (0 = H, 1 = A), event duration (0 = 10-20 s, 1 = >20 s), sleep stage (0 = REM, 1 = NREM 1-2); minSaO(2) (0 = 86%, 1 =