Concepedia

Abstract

Sleep disturbances are common complaints of dialysis patients, and sleep studies have suggested that sleep apnea may occur frequently. We performed sleep studies on 18 stable continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. Our results indicate that 6 of 18 patients (33%) had a respiratory disturbance index (RDI) greater than 15, which indicates severe sleep apnea. Twelve of 18 patients (67%) had an RDI greater than 5, indicating clinically significant sleep apnea. These results suggest that sleep apnea is common in CAPD patients. The impact of sleep apnea on the patients' quality of life remains to be determined.