BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Sleep Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1587378
Polysomnographic Correlates of Self and Caregiver Reported Sleep Problems in Post-Stroke Patients
Provisionally accepted
Kamalesh Tayade
Deepti Vibha*
Rajesh Kumar SinghAwadhkishor PanditBhargavi Ramanujam
Animesh DasArunmozhimaran Elavarasi
Ayush Agarwal
Achal Kumar Srivastava
Manjari Tripathi- All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
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Post-stroke sleep disorders (PSSD) are under-reported and under-treated, despite their impact on recovery, quality of life, and post-stroke depression. Although polysomnography (PSG) is the gold standard for diagnosis, its limited availability leads to underdiagnosis. We aim to assess the prevalence of PSSD based on patient- and caregiver-reported data, and to evaluate their concordance with findings from overnight PSG in post-stroke patients. In this cross-sectional study, adult patients (aged ≥18 years) with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke (1 month to 1 year post-onset) were assessed. Sleep-related history was obtained from patients and caregivers. Sleep quality, depression, anxiety, stroke severity and outcomes were evaluated. A subset underwent overnight PSG. The Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) was used to quantify sleep-disordered breathing.Results: Out of 103 enrolled patients, 41 (39.8%) underwent PSG. While only 15.5% reported sleep problems spontaneously, specific questioning increased detection to 62%. PSG revealed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in 62% of those denying sleep issues and in 100% of those self-reporting problems. Periodic limb movement disorder in sleep (PLMS) was present in 34.5% of asymptomatic individuals. Wakefulness after sleep onset (WASO) >120 minutes was more common in patients with PSQI >5. AHI >5 was present in 65.8%, but not associated with any demographic, clinical, or questionnaire-based variables. There is poor correlation between self/caregiver-reported sleep problems and PSG-confirmed diagnoses in post-stroke patients. Proactive screening using structured questionnaires and PSG (or alternatives such as actigraphy) is essential in resource-limited settings to detect and treat sleep disorders that may impact recovery.
Keywords: Post stroke sleep disturbances, OSA (Obstructive sleep apnea), SDB = sleep-disordered breathing, Periodic leg movement disorder, Polysomnogaphy, STOP-bang
Received: 05 Mar 2025; Accepted: 26 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tayade, Vibha, Singh, Pandit, Ramanujam, Das, Elavarasi, Agarwal, Srivastava and Tripathi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Deepti Vibha, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
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