Inter-movement interval as a primary stable measure of periodic limb movements of sleep.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Periodic leg movements in sleep (PLMS) are generally evaluated by the number of events per hour during sleep, but this is an unstable measure with marked nightly variability and also fails to assess the basic periodicity that essentially characterizes these movements. The inter-movement interval (IMI) evaluates a putative biological process producing the period of PLMS. By contrast, the actual number of PLMS reflects the expression of this biological process that would likely be affected by multiple factors, particularly those disrupting sleep. Thus, this study tests the hypothesis that measurement of IMI duration should be more stable over nights in comparison to any measure based on counting the number of movements. IMI approximates a log-normal distribution. This study, ther

SUBMITTER: Skeba P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4744335 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature