Background: Sleep disorders and nocturnal hypoxia are common in patients with cerebrovascular disease. Sleep-disordered breathing is associated with a poor functional outcome in stroke patients.
Objective: We investigated the relationship between nocturnal hypoxia and functional outcome in the rehabilitation phase of stroke patients.
Methods: Thirty patients with stroke and 20 controls were included. Functional status was evaluated with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). Pulse oximetry was performed overnight from 21.00 h to 07.00 h. Baseline awake oxygen saturation, nocturnal oxygen saturation, the lowest nocturnal oxygen saturation, and the >4% Oxygen Desaturation Index (ODI) were calculated.
Results: The mean oxygen saturation measurements were not significantly different among the groups (p > 0.05). There was no significant relationship between the FIM scores and the oxygen saturation measurements of the stroke patients (p > 0.05). The baseline oxygen saturation in patients with disease duration of 3 months or less was 94.67, and it was 96.56 (p = 0.016) in those with disease duration of more than 3 months.
Conclusion: This study showed that nocturnal oxygen saturation was not associated with functional outcome in therehabilitation phase of stroke patients.
Keywords: Nocturnal hypoxia; functional outcome; oxygen saturation; stroke.