Cheyne-Stokes respiration and sleep: a diurnal polygraphic study.

Thirty-four adult patients with Cheyne-Stokes respiration provided 47 routine EEG records and 24 polygraphic afternoon records. These records were analysed and compared with those of 18 Pickwickian patients previously studied. The main points of difference between these two groups of patients were: the Cheyne-Stokes patients were older and their respiratory periodicity (RP) was not strictly sleep-linked; it could be observed in wakefulness as well as sleep (in that case opening and closing the eyes often did not interrupt the ongoing RP); it tended to disappear in REMS. The main points of resemblance were the frequent appearance of Cheyne-Stokes RP at sleep onset and the presence of occasional ineffective respiratory movements during the crescendo phase of RP in sleep.