Circadian melatonin secretion in obese adolescents with or without obstructive sleep apnea

Abstract

Objective — To compare melatonin levels in saliva during a 24-hr day in order to identify the specificities of circadian melatonin secretion in obese adolescents with or without obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Material and Methods — We examined 18 obese adolescents with OSA, 12 obese adolescents without OSA, and 15 healthy adolescents with a normal body weight, from whom saliva was sampled four time during the 24-hr day. Polysomnography was used to diagnose OSA. Saliva samples (n=180) were subjected to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results — Obese adolescents with OSA had higher evening melatonin levels than obese adolescents without OSA. For example, this indicator in OSA patients was 5.3 times higher than in participants without OSA, who had the lowest evening melatonin level among all groups. In both obese groups, nighttime melatonin levels were significantly lower than in the control group. A positive correlation was detected between the levels of morning and afternoon melatonin and body mass index only in obese adolescents without OSA (r=0.58; p=0.03 and r=0.68; p=0.01, respectively). It was found that evening melatonin correlated with minimum blood oxygen saturation (SaO2) in the entire sample of adolescents with OSA (r=-0.69; p=0.008), and it also correlated with time with SaO2 <90% in the group with clinical manifestations of OSA (r=0.76; p=0.003). Nighttime melatonin levels negatively correlated with the minimum SaO2 value solely in the group with clinical manifestations of OSA (r=-0.58; p=0.035). Conclusion — The circadian melatonin secretion in obese adolescents differed, depending on the presence or absence of OSA, and correlated with the level of oxygen desaturation in OSA patients, to a greater extent – in the presence of clinical manifestations.

Keywords

• obesity
• adolescents
• obstructive sleep apnea
• melatonin