Relationship of alcohol abuse history to nighttime hypoxemia in abstaining chronic alcoholic men.

The nighttime blood oxygen saturation of 35 abstaining chronic alcoholic men was studied. Regression analyses indicated that various measures of alcohol abuse history (r = -.61, p less than .001) account for significant variance in nighttime hypoxemia. Age (r = -.39, p less than .05) and smoking history (r = .45, p less than .01) were less powerful predictors and both obesity and days abstinent from alcohol failed to correlate with hypoxemia. Possible mechanisms to explain the relationship between alcohol abuse history and hypoxemia are discussed. This and previously reported findings indicate that chronic alcohol abuse may predispose an individual to nighttime hypoxemia and be a risk factor for sleep apnea.