Published ahead of print on June 1, 2004, doi:10.1164/rccm.200310-1421OC Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 170, Number 5, September 2004, 547-552 A more recent version of this article appeared on September 1, 2004
Submitted on October 20, 2003 Differences in Patient and Bed-partner Assessed Quality of Life in Sleep-disordered BreathingJ. Gabrielle Breugelmans1,1 Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA, 2 Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA, 3 Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: npunjabi{at}jhmi.edu.
Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is associated with daytime sleepiness and impaired quality of life. Clinical experience suggests there is a discrepancy between the information provided by the patient and the bed-partner. Although this discrepancy is widely recognized, it is not known whether there are differences in quality of life ratings as reported by the patient and by the bed-partner on the patient's behalf. Using the Short-Form 36 (SF-36) to assess quality of life in 122 patients with SDB (apnea-hypopnea index > 5 events/hr), the current study found that patients with SDB generally rate their quality of life higher than their respective bed-partners. Systematic differences existed between the two raters in the following SF-36 domains: physical functioning, general health, and vitality. Moreover, male patients reported a higher functional status compared to female patients relative to their respective bed-partners. In contrast, no differences were noted between self and bed-partner quality of life in normal subjects (N = 15) without SDB (apnea-hypopnea index < 5 events/hr) recruited from the general community. The current study suggests that systematic differences exist between patient and bed-partner assessed quality of life in SDB. Bed-partner ratings provide supplemental information on quality of life impairment in SDB. Key words: Sleep-disordered breathing, quality of life, SF-36, bed-partner, proxy-ratings
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