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Aging effect on sleepiness and apneas severity in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: a meta-analysis study

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A Letter to the Editor to this article was published on 27 September 2019

Abstract

Purpose

Different authors have reported that aging could be associated with changes in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) related parameters (apnea/hypopnea index, SpO2, reduction of daytime sleepiness, etc.), type of sleep and pattern of collapse. Regarding OSA severity in elderly patients, it is commonly believed that the AHI score tends to increase with aging.

Methods

In this paper, we reviewed the literature regarding the studies which compared older (> 65 years old) and young (< 65 years old) OSA patients regarding the effect of aging on daytime sleepiness (ESS evaluation) and OSA severity (AHI evaluation). A meta-analysis to evaluate the effect of age on daytime sleepiness and OSAS severity was also performed to corroborate previously reported experience.

Results

Meta-analysis showed no statistical (p = 0.8) differences regarding AHI differences emerged from the comparison of the two groups of patients. Elderly patients (> 65 years old) showed less daytime sleepiness, showing a statistical difference in the meta-analysis of data (p = 0.004)

Conclusion

Although a direct correlation between aging and AHI values would seem to be present, no significant differences in baseline AHI between young (< 65-years-old) and elderly (> 65-years-old) patients emerged in this meta-analysis study. The effects of OSAS on daytime sleepiness seem to be much more prominent in young or middle-aged patients than in elderly patients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of ‘Organi Di Senso’, University “Sapienza”, Via Satrico 7, 00183, Rome, Italy

    Giannicola Iannella, Andrea Colizza, Antonio Greco, Marco de Vincentiis, Giampiero Gulotta, Irene Claudia Visconti & Giuseppe Magliulo

  2. Department of Head-Neck Surgery, Otolaryngology, Head-Neck and Oral Surgery Unit, Morgagni Pierantoni Hospital, Forlì, Italy

    Giannicola Iannella, Claudio Vicini, Giuseppe Meccariello, Andrea de Vito, Giovanni Cammaroto, Riccardo Gobbi, Chiara Bellini & Elisabetta Firinu

  3. Department ENT and Audiology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Claudio Vicini & Stefano Pelucchi

  4. Department of Oral and Maxillo Facial Sciences, University “Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Antonella Polimeni

  5. Department of ENT, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

    Milena di Luca

Authors
  1. Giannicola Iannella
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  2. Claudio Vicini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giannicola Iannella.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee of the Morgagni Pierantoni Hospital and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on sleep apnea syndrome. Guest Editors: Manuele Casale, Rinaldi Vittorio.

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Iannella, G., Vicini, C., Colizza, A. et al. Aging effect on sleepiness and apneas severity in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: a meta-analysis study. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 276, 3549–3556 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-019-05616-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-019-05616-0

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