Three Cases of Catathrenia (Nocturnal Groaning)

Received August 18, 2011 Revised November 4, 2011 Accepted November 16, 2011 Address for correspondence Sang-Ahm Lee, MD, PhD Department of Neurology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center, 88 Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-736, Korea Tel: +82-2-3010-3445 Fax: +82-2-474-4691 E-mail: salee@amc.seoul.kr Catathrenia(nocturnal groaning) is a rare disorder recently classified as a parasomnia. We presented three cases of catathrenia which of them performed continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) titration. All patients had same patterns of breathing during catathrenia sound which recorded in polysomnography as central sleep apnea starting with deep inspiration. Catathrenia predominantly occurred in the last REM sleep period in case 1 but in all stages in case 2. Case 3 had all catathrenia in NREM sleep. Case 2 and 3 had combined obstructive sleep apnea (Apnea-hypopnea Index=21.7/hr and 20.5/hr). Case 1 and 2 performed CPAP titration. With or without combined obstructive sleep apnea, catathrenia events were remarkably decreased. J Korean Sleep Res Soc 2011;8:40-44