Non-EEG assessment of arousal in respiratory sleep disorders [body movements]

From the results presented it may be concluded that limb activity is normally associated with EEG arousal. Although it has limited sensitivity for detecting transient arousal, the authors and others have found it of use in indicating longer arousals or periods of wakefulness. Phase changes in ribcage-abdominal movement are more sensitive than limb movement for the recognition of arousal associated with apnoea or hypopnoea. The value of any of these indices as a predictor of daytime symptoms is limited. This may be due to inadequacies in the quantification of daytime symptoms. However, there is also some evidence that EEG arousal as measured here may not be the best predictor of daytime symptoms