Improvement in upper airway function after weight loss in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. NLM AIDSLINE Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

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Improvement in upper airway function after weight loss in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Am Rev Respir Dis. 1988 Nov;138(5):1192-5. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/89075383
Rubinstein I; Colapinto N; Rotstein LE; Brown IG; Hoffstein V; Department of Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Canada.

Abstract: Overweight patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are improved by weight reduction, although the underlying mechanisms are not clear. We tested the hypothesis that improvement in OSA after weight loss is associated with improvement in pharyngeal function. Consequently, we measured pharyngeal area at functional residual capacity (AFRC) and at residual volume (ARV), the percent change in pharyngeal area between FRC and RV (delta Aph%) defined as (AFRC - ARV)/AFRC x 100, and lung volume dependence of pharyngeal area (LVD) defined as the difference between AFRC and ARV normalized for the expiratory reserve volume (ERV)--in 12 overweight apneic patients before and after weight loss. We found that after a 26 +/- 18 kg weight loss, there was a significant reduction in the apnea/hypopnea index from 57 +/- 29 to 14 +/- 10 (p less than 0.0005) and increase in the lowest nocturnal oxygen saturation from 54 +/- 20% to 80 +/- 8% (p less than 0.001). This improvement was associated with a significant reduction in delta Aph% from 25 +/- 15% to 9 +/- 18% (p less than 0.05) and a significant decrease in LVD from 1.98 +/- 1.52 cm2/L to 0.16 +/- 0.88 cm2/L (p less than 0.005). There were four patients in whom baseline LVD was low and relatively unchanged after weight loss. Three of these patients exhibited paradoxical inspiratory narrowing of the glottis, which reversed after weight loss; these glottic abnormalities were not present in the rest of the patients with OSA. We conclude that improvement in obstructive sleep apnea after weight loss may be related to improvement in pharyngeal and glottic function.
Keywords: Adult Female Glottis/PHYSIOPATHOLOGY Human Male Middle Age Obesity/COMPLICATIONS Pharynx/PATHOLOGY/*PHYSIOPATHOLOGY Respiration Respiratory Function Tests Sleep Apnea Syndromes/ETIOLOGY/PATHOLOGY/*PHYSIOPATHOLOGY Support, Non-U.S. Gov't *Weight Loss JOURNAL ARTICLE

KWDadultfemaleglottis/physiopathologyhumanmalemiddleageobesity/complicationspharynx/pathology/KWDphysiopathologyrespirationrespiratoryfunctiontestssleepapneasyndromes/etiology/pathology/KWDphysiopathologysupport,non-uKWDsKWDgov'tKWDweightlossjournalarticle
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Copyright © 1989 - National Library of Medicine. Reproduced under license with the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.

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