Life (May 2023)

Association of Low Arousal Threshold Obstructive Sleep Apnea Manifestations with Body Fat and Water Distribution

  • Wen-Hua Hsu,
  • Cheng-Chang Yang,
  • Cheng-Yu Tsai,
  • Arnab Majumdar,
  • Kang-Yun Lee,
  • Po-Hao Feng,
  • Chien-Hua Tseng,
  • Kuan-Yuan Chen,
  • Jiunn-Horng Kang,
  • Hsin-Chien Lee,
  • Cheng-Jung Wu,
  • Yi-Chun Kuan,
  • Wen-Te Liu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/life13051218
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 5
p. 1218

Abstract

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Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with a low arousal threshold (low-ArTH) phenotype can cause minor respiratory events that exacerbate sleep fragmentation. Although anthropometric features may affect the risk of low-ArTH OSA, the associations and underlying mechanisms require further investigation. This study investigated the relationships of body fat and water distribution with polysomnography parameters by using data from a sleep center database. The derived data were classified as those for low-ArTH in accordance with criteria that considered oximetry and the frequency and type fraction of respiratory events and analyzed using mean comparison and regression approaches. The low-ArTH group members (n = 1850) were significantly older and had a higher visceral fat level, body fat percentage, trunk-to-limb fat ratio, and extracellular-to-intracellular (E–I) water ratio compared with the non-OSA group members (n = 368). Significant associations of body fat percentage (odds ratio [OR]: 1.58, 95% confident interval [CI]: 1.08 to 2.3, p p p < 0.01) with the risk of low-ArTH OSA were noted after adjustments for sex, age, and body mass index. These observations suggest that increased truncal adiposity and extracellular water are associated with a higher risk of low-ArTH OSA.

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