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Effects of 12 weeks of regular aerobic exercises on autonomic nervous system in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome patients

  • Sleep Breathing Physiology and Disorders • Original Article
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Abstract

Introduction

Regular exercise is confirmed as a lifestyle treatment option for all obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. It has beneficial effects other than weight loss, although the mechanisms remain unclear. Autonomic function imbalance plays an important role in OSA, so that it is meaningful to observe the effect of exercise on autonomic function.

Methods

Seventy mild to moderate OSA patients were divided into two groups. The exercise group received a 12-week exercise program prescribed according to their first cardiopulmonary exercise tests, while the control group kept previous lifestyle. All patients underwent blood tests, cardiopulmonary exercise tests, and polysomnography studies at enrollment and at the 12-week’s follow-up.

Results

At the end of 12 weeks, three patients of the exercise group did not complete the program due to lack of adherence. The current study showed 12-week aerobic exercises could improve body mass index (27.6 ± 4.7 kg/m2 vs. 24.5 ± 4.2 kg/m2, P < 0.05), exercise capacities, apnea-hypopnea index (total AHI 20.2 ± 7.5 vs. 16.4 ± 5.2, P < 0.05; supine AHI 22.1 ± 6.3 vs. 18.3 ± 4.9, P < 0.05), average oxyhemoglobin saturation (AverSpO2), time/percentage SpO2 below 90%, and heart rate recovery (HRR) of OSA patients. Moreover, AverSpO2 change was significantly associated with HRR change in the exercise group.

Conclusions

Our findings suggested regular aerobic exercise had beneficial effects on body mass index, functional capacity, intermittent hypoxia, and parasympathetic tone of OSA patients, and whether parasympathetic tone modification plays a role in improving intermittent hypoxia or not deserves further exploration.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Hongyan Yang and Yuanhua Liu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital Branch affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Hongyan Yang

  2. Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Yuanhua Liu

  3. Department of Cardiology, Shanghai Worldpath Clinic International, Shanghai, China

    Huan Zheng

  4. Department of Endocrinology, Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Guanghui Liu

  5. Department of Diagnostics Teaching, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital affiliated to Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China

    Aihong Mei

Authors
  1. Hongyan Yang
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  2. Yuanhua Liu
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  3. Huan Zheng
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  4. Guanghui Liu
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  5. Aihong Mei
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Guanghui Liu or Aihong Mei.

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Conflict of interest

Huan Zheng received a research grant from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Award Number: 81400206). Other authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or nonfinancial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee Review Board of Tongji Hospital (Shanghai, China).

Informed consent

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

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Yang, H., Liu, Y., Zheng, H. et al. Effects of 12 weeks of regular aerobic exercises on autonomic nervous system in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome patients. Sleep Breath 22, 1189–1195 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-018-1736-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-018-1736-1

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