Sleep disordered breathing in neurologic disorders.

Wakefulness, NREM sleep, and REM sleep are accompanied by specific changes in breathing control, which arise from the interaction of automatic (metabolic, involuntary) and behavioural (voluntary and involuntary control systems. Considering the complexity in the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of breathing control, it is not surprising that neurologic disorders are frequently accompanied by sleep disordered breathing. An introduction on pathophysiology, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment of sleep disordered breathing in such diseases as stroke, epilepsy, dementia, spinal cord disease, polyneuropathies, and myopathies is presented.