AN OVERVIEW OF OBSERVATIONAL SLEEP RESEARCH WITH APPLICATION TO SLEEP STAGE TRANSITIONING

Brian S. Caffo, Department of Biostatistics, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
B. Swihart, Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
A. Laffan, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
C. Crainiceanu, Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
N. Punjabi, Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Campus

Abstract

In this manuscript we give an overview of observational sleep research with a particular emphasis on sleep stage transitions. Sleep states represent a categorization of sleep electroencephalogram behavior over the night. We postulate that the rate of transitioning between sleep states is an important predictor of health. This claim is evaluated by comparing subjects with sleep disordered breathing to matched controls.