Objective: To determine the prevalence of nocturnal hypoxemia and its association with pulmonary function, nutritional status, sleep macrostructure, and obstructive respiratory events during sleep in a population of clinically stable children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis (CF). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 67 children and adolescents with CF between 2 and 14 years of age. All of the participants underwent polysomnography, and SpO2 was measured by pulse oximetry. We also evaluated the Shwachman-Kulczycki (S-K) scores, spirometry findings, and nutritional status of the patients. Results: The study involved 67 patients. The mean age of the patients was 8 years. The S-K scores differed significantly between the patients with and without nocturnal hypoxemia, which was defined as an SpO2 < 90% for more than 5% of the total sleep time (73.75  6.29 vs. 86.38  8.70; p < 0.01). Nocturnal hypoxemia correlated with the severity of lung disease, FEV1 (rs = −0.42; p = 0.01), FVC (rs = −0.46; p = 0.01), microarousal index (rs = 0.32; p = 0.01), and apnea-hypopnea index (rs = 0.56; p = 0.01). Conclusions: In this sample of patients with CF and mild-to-moderate lung disease, nocturnal oxygenation correlated with the S-K score, spirometry variables, sleep macrostructure variables, and the apnea-hypopnea index.

Keywords: Cystic fibrosis; Sleep; Oximetry.