Turkish Archives of Otorhinolaryngology (Sep 2010)
Investigation of serum brain natiuretic peptide levels in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome
Abstract
Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of many cardiovascular diseases. Early detection of asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction in patients with OSAS is extremely important and symptomatic heart failure can be prevented with early treatment strategies such as beta-blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. We aimed to demonstrate the possible relationship between OSAS and heart failure by measuring serum brain natiuretic peptide (BNP) level which is mostly produced by ventricule.Methods: Polysomnography was performed overnight to the patients who refered to the Ear, Nose and Throat outpatient clinic with complaints of snoring, after evaluating according to the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). The severe apneic patients (11 women, 19 men) which have apnea-hypopnea index score 30/hour and above were included to study. Control groups were chosen from the healthy subjects whose ESS results were 9 and below. Form these healthy subjects whose body mass index (BMI) is 28 (11 females, 15 males) for the second control group. The severe OSAS patients’ mean BMI value was calculated 33.22±4.68. Serum BNP level were measured with ELISA.Results: According to the applied descriptive statistics of 81 cases serum BNP median (minimum, maximum) value was 83.23 fmol/mL (53.87; 210.73). The median of control group- 1, control group-2 and patient group was 90.5 fmol/mL (61.49; 129.05), 83.98 fmol/mL (61.23; 112.11) and 80.6 fmol/mL (53.87; 210.73), respectively. Since Kolmogrov-Smirnov test result was p=0.001, Kruskal-Wallis test were applied and found as (p= 0.646).Conclusion: There were no significant differences between the patients with severe OSAS and control groups. In our opinion BNP can not be an adequate parameter to show early diagnosis of heart failure in OSAS patients.
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