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

摘要

Obstructive 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.