Fatigue and Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Multiple Sclerosis: A Clinically Relevant Association?

Table 2

Gender-related differences in MS patients with severe fatigue.

	Female	Male	P
n (%)	48 (70%)	21 (30%)
Age (y)	49 ± 9.3	51 ± 9.2	0.73
Disease duration (y)	14.4 ± 9.1	11.9 ± 7.7	0.16
Disease subtype			0.71
RRMS	7	2
SPMS	41	19
EDSS	5.9 ± 1.4	5.8 ± 1.4	0.78
ESS	9.7 ± 4.5	9.2 ± 3.8	0.65
EDS (ESS ≥ 10)	25 (52%)	10 (48%)	0.49
BMI	26.3 ± 5.2	25.3 ± 3.8	0.12
No SDB (AHI < 5/h)	32 (67%)	9 (43%)	0.06
AHI	5.2 ± 9.9	18.5 ± 24.7	<0.001
ODI	7.1 ± 7.9	18.1 ± 22.4	<0.001
SaO2 min (%)	78.9 ± 14.6	75.5 ± 19.1	0.58

AHI: apnea-hypopnea index, BMI: body mass index, EDS: excessive daytime sleepiness, EDSS: Extended Disability Status Scale, ESS: Epworth Sleepiness Scale, ODI: oxygen-desaturation index, RRMS: relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, SaO₂ min: minimal O₂ saturation, SDB: sleep-disordered breathing, SPMS: secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.