Association between inflammatory potential of the diet and sleep parameters in sleep apnea patients.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyze the association between the inflammatory potential of diet and sleep parameters in individuals with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the dietary inflammatory index (DII) at predicting sleep pattern. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with mild to severe OSA were included in the study (N = 296). Sleep pattern was analyzed by polysomnography and subjective sleep parameters. DII scores were calculated from a validated food frequency questionnaire. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and generalized linear models were conducted. RESULTS: DII scores were efficient at predicting apnea severity (P < 0.05) and daytime sleepiness (P = 0.02) in age stratification and predicting rapid eye movement latency in obese individuals (P = 0.03). No significant associations were found between DII scores and the majority of sleep parameters. The DII was only associated with daytime sleepiness; patients with a more proinflammatory diet (quintile 4) showed more subjective sleepiness than the group with a more anti-inflammatory diet (quintile 1; P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Findings from this study indicated that the DII could be sensitive and specific for predicting apnea severity in individuals commonly associated with OSA. Although the DII was not associated with most of the sleep parameters, the few associations found demonstrated the need for more studies that evaluate whether DII is associated with the risk for OSA symptoms.

Sleep complaints and polysomnographic findings: a study of nuclear power plant shift workers.

The literature widely recognizes that shift workers have more health complaints than the general population. The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence of sleep complaints and verify the polysomnographic (PSG) variables of shift workers in two Brazilian nuclear power plants. We carried out a subjective evaluation with a sleep questionnaire. Based on these results, the interviewees that reported sleep-related complaints were referred for polysomnographic evaluation. Of the 327 volunteers initially evaluated by the sleep questionnaire, 113 (35%) reported sleep complaints; they were significantly older, had higher body mass index (BMI), and worked more years on shifts than those without sleep complaints. Of these 113, 90 met criteria for various sleep disorders: 30 (9%) showed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), 18 (5.5%) showed limb movement, and 42 (13%) evidenced both sleep problems and had a significantly higher proportion of sleep stage 1 and arousals compared with the 23 shift workers that had no indices of sleep problems. The present study found that 90 (27.5%) of the evaluated participants met the PSG criteria of some type of clinical sleep disorder. This high proportion should be investigated for associations with other aspects of work, such as working hours, working schedule, years performing shift work, and access to health services. Due to the strong association between sleep disorders and the incidence of fatigue and sleepiness, the evaluation of the sleep patterns and complaints of shift workers is essential and should be considered to be one of the basic strategies of industry to prevent accidents.