Changes in respiration during sleep in normal conditions and in the presence of neurological lesions at different levels of the regulation of the respiratory system

摘要

Disturbances to the rhythm and depth of respiratory movements during sleep are a common phenomenon in completely healthy humans. These disturbances may be apparent as apnea, hypopnea, or even pathological types of respiration without having any adverse effects on wellbeing or vital signs. When a certain quantitative threshold is exceeded, clinical syndromes of respiratory disorders during sleep arise and these have particular clinical symptomatologies and pathogenetic mechanisms of development. A total of 343 patients (162 men and 181 women) were studied, with different types of neurological pathology, mostly associated with particular levels of respiratory regulation: cerebral, spinal, nerve, and muscular. The most frequent and severe respiratory disorders during sleep occurred in patients with lesions at the central level of respiratory regulation. Specific predominance of respiratory disorders of different types was seen in relation to lesions at different levels.