Relationship Between Episodic Nocturnal Hypercapnia and History of Exacerbations in Patients with Advanced Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

Takamasa Kitajima,1 Satoshi Marumo,1 Hisanori Amimoto,2 Yusuke Shiraishi,3 Haruka Yamaki,3 Masahiro Shirata,3 Daiki Inoue,1 Motonari Fukui1 1Respiratory Disease Center, Kitano Hospital, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute, Osaka, Japan; 2Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kobe City Medical Center West Hospital, Kobe, Japan; 3Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kyoto University, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, JapanCorrespondence: Takamasa Kitajima, Respiratory Disease Center, Kitano Hospital, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute, 2-4-20 Ohgimachi, Kita-ku, Osaka, 530-8480, Japan, Tel [phone], Fax [phone], Email [email protected]: An episodic increase in transcutaneous carbon dioxide pressure (PtcCO2) is often recognized in patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by overnight PtcCO2 monitoring. This phenomenon, called episodic nocturnal hypercapnia (eNH), mainly corresponds to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep-related hypoventilation. However, it is unclear whether eNH is associated with the frequency of COPD exacerbation. We aimed to investigate whether a relationship exists between COPD exacerbation and eNH.Patients and Methods: We enrolled consecutive patients with stable, severe, or very severe COPD with a daytime arterial carbon dioxide pressure (PaCO2) < 55.0 mmHg who underwent overnight PtcCO2 monitoring from April 2013 to January 2017. We retrospectively analyzed the prevalence of eNH and sleep-associated hypoventilation (SH) as defined by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Moreover, we compared the relationship between the frequency of COPD exacerbations in the previous year and eNH or SH.Results: Twenty-four patients were included in this study. The study patients had a mean daytime PaCO2 and nocturnal PtcCO2 of 43.3 ± 6.8 mmHg and 42.9 ± 9.6 mmHg, respectively. Six (25.0%) and 11 (45.9%) of the 24 patients met the SH and eNH criteria, respectively. The odds ratios of SH and eNH for at least one annual exacerbation were 1.0 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.16– 6.00] and 11.1 [95% CI: 1.39– 87.7], respectively. The odds ratios of SH and eNH for at least two annual exacerbations were 0.3 [95% CI: 0.04– 2.64] and 6.6 [95% CI: 1.06– 39.4], respectively.Conclusion: In patients with advanced COPD and a daytime PaCO2 < 55.0 mmHg, eNH may be associated with a history of more frequent exacerbations than SH. Further studies are required to validate these findings.Keywords: episodic nocturnal hypercapnia, sleep-associated hypoventilation, exacerbations, arterial carbon dioxide pressure, rapid eye movement

Keywords

• episodic nocturnal hypercapnia
• sleep-associated hypoventilation
• exacerbations
• arterial carbon dioxide pressure
• rapid eye movement.