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Understanding potential associations between anatomic and other factors in OSA severity

  • Sleep Breathing Physiology and Disorders • Original Article
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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this prospective study was to investigate associations between nasal/oropharyngeal structures and a range of factors including age, gender, daytime sleepiness, and body mass index (BMI).

Methods

Patients with OSA were prospectively selected as research participants in rhinomanometric analysis as well as for otolaryngological evaluation. Participants were grouped as follows according to their apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) scores: no OSA (AHI < 5), mild OSA (5 ≤ AHI ≤ 15), moderate OSA (15 ≤ AHI < 30), and severe OSA (AHI ≥ 30). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal–Wallis H, and Mann–Whitney U tests were performed to assess OSA severity in terms of the relationships between nasal resistance (NR) and anthropometric indices (body mass index (BMI), Friedman tongue position (FTP)), age, and gender.

Results

The study cohort of 177 men and 81 women ranged in age between 21 and 76 years, with BMI ranging from 23 to 45. In total, 37 patients were simple snorers (AHI < 5), and 221 patients were diagnosed with OSA. There was no significant difference among the AHI groups in terms of nasal volume (Vol05) (p = 0.952), mean flow (p = 0.778), and mean NR total (p = 0.723). A statistically significant difference was found between the AHI groups in terms of mean BMI and median FTP scores (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

This study provides evidence that that the oropharyngeal region (oropharynx, tongue, and vallecula) is a more important determinant of OSA severity than the nasal region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Namık Kemal Mah. Kampüs cad. No:1/14 Sağlık Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi, 59100, SüleymanPaşa/Tekirdağ, Turkey

    Tolga Ersözlü, Mahmut Deniz & Erdogan Gultekin

  2. Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Namık Kemal University, Tekirdağ, Turkey

    Nevin Fazlıoglu & Nejat Altintas

Authors
  1. Tolga Ersözlü
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  2. Mahmut Deniz
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  3. Nevin Fazlıoglu
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  4. Erdogan Gultekin
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  5. Nejat Altintas
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Contributions

Concept, T.E.; design, T.E.; supervision, E.G.; materials, N.F. and T.E.; data collection and/or processing, N.F.; analysis and/or interpretation, T.E.; literature search, T.E.; writing manuscript, T.E.; critical review, N.A.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tolga Ersözlü.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This study was approved as a prospective study by the Namık Kemal University Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee with the number 2018/103/07/09. 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.

Informed consent

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

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Ersözlü, T., Deniz, M., Fazlıoglu, N. et al. Understanding potential associations between anatomic and other factors in OSA severity. Sleep Breath 26, 1649–1653 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-021-02539-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-021-02539-1

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