The Frequency and Energy of Snoring Sounds Are Associated with Common Carotid Artery Intima-Media Thickness in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients

• DOI: 10.1038/srep30559
• Publication Date: 2016-07-29T09:14:28Z
• Authors: Guo-She Lee; Li-Ang Lee; Chao-Yung Wang; Ning-Hung Chen; Tuan-Jen Fang; Chung-Guei Huang; Wen-Nuan Cheng; Hsueh-Yu Li
• Keywords: Adult; Male; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive; Carotid Artery, Common; Snoring; Blood Pressure; Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; Article; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; C-Reactive Protein; 0302 clinical medicine; Humans

AbstractObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a known risk factor for atherosclerosis. We investigated the association of common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT) with snoring sounds in OSA patients. A total of 30 newly diagnosed OSA patients with no history of cardiovascular diseases were prospectively enrolled for measuring mean CCA-IMT with B-mode ultrasonography, body mass index, metabolic syndrome, 10-year cardiovascular disease risk score, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and homocysteine. Good-quality signals of full-night snoring sounds in an ordinary sleep condition obtained from 15 participants were further acoustically analyzed (Included group). All variables of interest were not significantly different (all p > 0.05) between the included and non-included groups except for diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.037). In the included group, CCA-IMT was significantly correlated with snoring sound energies of 0–20 Hz (r = 0.608, p = 0.036) and 652–1500 Hz (r = 0.632, p = 0.027) and was not significantly associated with that of 20–652 Hz (r = 0.366, p = 0.242) after adjustment for age and sex. Our findings suggest that underlying snoring sounds may cause carotid wall thickening and support the large-scale evaluation of snoring sound characters as markers of surveillance and for risk stratification at diagnosis.