Postural instability and sleep disorder in the elderly

Abstract

Background: Ameliorating postural instability and sleep disorders are common problem of geriatric health care. Recent cohort study showed that sleep disturbances were associated with risk of falls in older men. However, relationships the spatiotemporal profile of postural sway and polysomnographic findings have not been elucidated. Method: We enrolled 28 elderly with sleep disorder (Age: 82.3±33.6 yrs.). Each subject was evaluated by full polysomnography. Measurements of center of pressure (CoP) trajectories were done with subjects standing quietly on a force plate. Experiments were repeated with eyes open and eyes closed. From the CoP data, distance, length and velocity in mediolateral (ML) and antero-posterior (AP) directions, and the total trajectory length were computed. Results: The distance and the length in ML direction with eyes open were significantly correlated with Apnea-hypopnea index (r = 0.43, p=0.03 and r= 0.54, p Conclusion: The study revealed that sleep apnea is a key role in postural sway in ML direction in elderly with sleep disorder.