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Influence of obstructive sleep apnea on auditory event-related potentials

  • Sleep Breathing Physiology and Disorders • Original Article
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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the influence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on the P300 response of auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) and to correlate the electrophysiological findings with OSA severity.

Methods

Patients with no OSA and mild, moderate, and severe OSA according to polysomnography (PSG) with normal hearing and no comorbidities were studied. Individuals with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 40 kg/m2, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, the use of chronic medications, and a risk of hearing loss were excluded. All patients underwent full PSG and auditory ERP measurement using the oddball paradigm with tone burst and speech stimuli. For P300 analysis (latencies and amplitudes), normal multiple linear regression models were adjusted with the groups (No OSA, Mild OSA, Moderate OSA, Severe OSA), age, BMI, and Epworth score as explanatory variables.

Results

We studied 54 individuals (47 males) aged 35 ± 8 years with a BMI of 28.4 ± 4.3 kg/m2. Patients were divided according to the apnea–hypopnea index (AHI) derived from PSG into no OSA (n = 14), mild (n = 16), moderate (n = 12), and severe OSA (n = 12) groups. Patients with severe OSA presented prolonged P300 latencies with tone burst stimuli compared to patients with no OSA and those with mild and moderate OSA.

Conclusion

Severe OSA is associated with impairment of the P300 response of auditory ERPs, suggesting a decrease in the processing speed of acoustic information that may be mediated by the level of somnolence.

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Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brazil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine (FMUSP), University of São Paulo, Rua Cipotânea, 51, São Paulo, CEP: 05360-160, Brazil

    Raquel Meirelles Pedreño, Liliane Aparecida Fagundes Silva, Alessandra Giannella Samelli, Fernanda Cristina Leite Magliaro, Seisse Gabriela Gandolfi Sanches, Ivone Ferreira Neves Lobo, Renata Mota Mamede Carvallo & Carla Gentile Matas

  2. Sleep Laboratory, Pulmonary Division, Instituto Do Coração, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Erika Matsumura & Geraldo Lorenzi-Filho

Authors
  1. Raquel Meirelles Pedreño
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  2. Erika Matsumura
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  3. Liliane Aparecida Fagundes Silva
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  4. Alessandra Giannella Samelli
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  5. Fernanda Cristina Leite Magliaro
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  8. Geraldo Lorenzi-Filho
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  9. Renata Mota Mamede Carvallo
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  10. Carla Gentile Matas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carla Gentile Matas.

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Ethical standards

This study was approved by the appropriate ethics committee and was therefore performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

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

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The authors declare no conflicts of personal, commercial, academic, political, or financial interests related to this manuscript.

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Comments

In this interesting article, all examinations were performed in the morning, with patients and controls at rest, at the same time, paying attention to the circadian rhythm. The sample was small, but the selection was made very carefully, the authors did not include the elderly, as age affects P300 latency, and care was also taken not to highlight the cognitive impairment of the population with severe apnea, but rather to suggest a decrease in the acoustic processing speed.

Ligia Lucchesi

Sao Paulo, Brazil

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Pedreño, R.M., Matsumura, E., Silva, L.A.F. et al. Influence of obstructive sleep apnea on auditory event-related potentials. Sleep Breath 26, 315–323 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-021-02406-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-021-02406-z

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