ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Sleep Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1643862
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Advance on Sleep Disorder: Mechanisms and InterventionsView all 13 articles
Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Community-Dwelling Polio Survivors: A 5-Year Longitudinal Follow-Up Study
Provisionally accepted
Qidi Ding1*
Xiao Li2Meng Wang2Jingyu Wang2
Ting Sun2Yunliang Sun2Jianghua Liu2
Yu Yan3Jinxian Wu4Juan Du5Xiaosong Dong6
Chi Zhang6Yuhua Zuo6Long Zhao6Jing Li6
Changjun Lv2
Kingman P Strohl7
Fang Han6- 1Peking University People's hospita, Beijing, China
- 2Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou, China
- 3Binzhou Medical University, Binzhou, China
- 4Dongyang People's Hospital, Dongyang, China
- 5Dongyang the Seventh People's Hospital, Dongyang, China
- 6Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, China
- 7Case Western Reserve University, and Cleveland Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, Cleveland, United States
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Purpose: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is highly prevalent in polio survivors, but longitudinal data on its progression remain limited. This study aimed to characterize OSA progression in community-dwelling polio survivors and compare it with an age-matched control group. Methods: A prospective 5-year longitudinal study recruited 148 polio survivors (48.76±5.97 years, 75% male). At baseline (2014), all participants underwent overnight oximetry. Among them, 42 completed in-lab polysomnography (PSG) testing. Over the 5-year follow-up, 112 polio survivors (76.79% male, mean age 48.48±6.05 years) were successfully tracked, with 33 undergoing follow-up PSG. Additionally, 59 age-and sex-matched OSA patients were enrolled as controls. Primary outcomes included changes in oxygen desaturation index ≥4% (ODI4) and apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). Correlates of OSA progression were analyzed using Pearson's correlations. Results: Over 5 years, ODI4 increased significantly in polio survivors from 8.11±9.13 to 10.35±11.63 events/hour (P=0.01), with a shift toward moderate-severe ODI4 (13% to 22%, P=0.027). AHI also rose in both groups: polio survivors (26.57±21.25 to 33.86±22.43 events/hour, P=0.02) and controls (27.14±21.91 to 37.24±24.55 events/hour, P=0.004), with no significant group difference in AHI progression (P=0.89). However, polio survivors showed increased mixed apnea index (P=0.02) and prolonged REM sleep latency (P=0.009). ODI4 changes correlated with scoliosis (r=0.27, P=0.005) and BMI fluctuations (r=0.25, P=0.008). Conclusions: OSA-related parameters, particularly mixed apnea and REM alterations, progress in polio survivors. Changes in ODI4 were positively correlated with BMI fluctuations and scoliosis.
Keywords: Neuromuscular Disease, Community-living polio survivor, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, Polysomnography, Oximetry
Received: 09 Jun 2025; Accepted: 26 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ding, Li, Wang, Wang, Sun, Sun, Liu, Yan, Wu, Du, Dong, Zhang, Zuo, Zhao, Li, Lv, Strohl and Han. 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: Qidi Ding, dingqidi4677@163.com
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