Nature and Science of Sleep (Jul 2021)

The Impact of Glycolipid Metabolic Disorders on Severity Stage-Specific Variation of Cardiac Autonomic Function in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Data-Driven Clinical Study

  • Zhao X,
  • Xu H,
  • Dong C,
  • Fan J,
  • He G,
  • Zou J,
  • Meng L,
  • Zhu H,
  • Su K,
  • Yang M,
  • Yi H,
  • Wang J,
  • Yin S,
  • Guan J

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 1347 – 1362

Abstract

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Xiaolong Zhao,1– 3,* Huajun Xu,1,3,* Chuan Dong,2,* Jiangang Fan,2 Gang He,2 Jianyin Zou,1,3 Lili Meng,1,3 Huaming Zhu,1,3 Kaiming Su,1,3 Mingpo Yang,4 Hongliang Yi,1,3 Jian Wang,5 Shankai Yin,1,3 Jian Guan1,3 1Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery & Center of Sleep Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China; 3Shanghai Key Laboratory of Sleep Disordered Breathing, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 4Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 5School of Communication Science and Disorders/Physiol & Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Shankai Yin; Jian Guan Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Cardiac autonomic dysfunction (CAD) is a common pathology in cardiovascular diseases; however, the role of glycolipid metabolic disorders in CAD development in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) remains poorly understood.Methods: In total, 4152 patients with suspected OSA were recruited in our sleep center. Metabolic characteristics including anthropometric and glycolipid data were collected. Heart rate variability (HRV) was measured to assess the risk of CAD; its dose–response relationship with OSA severity was evaluated via restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis. A segmented multivariate linear regression (SMLR) model was used to evaluate the roles of metabolic variables in different stages of OSA.Results: The RCS showed that CAD risk increased in a nonlinear relationship pattern with OSA severity, from slow fluctuation at earlier stages to rapid change in later stages. After integrating the clinical definition and RCS selected knots, we obtained the new four OSA severity stages. SMLR model showed that the overall value of glycolipid variables for prediction of HRV abnormalities was greater than the value of OSA variables at earlier stages, while OSA variables were more effective predictors in more severe stages. The discordance in respective relationship of HRV with metabolic and OSA variables sheds the light how metabolic disorders promoted the development of CAD in OSA, the later further in turn deteriorates cardiac function.Conclusion: These results are indicative of stage-specific involvement of glycolipid metabolic factors underlying CAD nonlinear changes in patients with OSA. Early control glycolipid disorders may help the control of CAD development in patients with OSA.Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea, autonomic nervous system, cardiac autonomic neuropathy, metabolism, heart rate variability

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