Deglutition dynamics of patients with obstructive sleep apnea

TL;DR

This study examines how swallowing patterns during sleep are affected in patients with obstructive sleep apnea and finds a link between swallowing frequency and disease severity.

Contribution

The study identifies two distinct swallowing patterns during sleep and reveals a significant negative correlation between swallowing frequency in sleep stage 1 and apnea severity.

Findings

Two distinct deglutition patterns were identified during sleep: with and without respiratory arousal.

A significant negative correlation was found between the index of deglutition in sleep stage 1 and the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI).

Abstract

In the present study, we performed a detailed analysis of deglutitive dynamics during sleep in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) using a methodology developed by Sato et al. We hypothesized that the frequency of deglutition would decrease with increasing severity of OSA. The aim of this study is to clarify the involvement of deglutitive dynamics during sleep in OSA by investigating the correlations between deglutition and sleep parameters.

This study included 30 adult patients with OSA. To analyze deglutition dynamics during sleep, surface electromyography recordings of the suprahyoid and thyrohyoid neck muscles, which are involved in deglutition, were performed simultaneous with conventional polysomnography. The “index of deglutition” was defined as the frequency of deglutition per hour of sleep. We examined correlations between this index and sleep parameters (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI], apnea index, hypopnea index, and lowest blood oxygen saturation).

By analyzing the obtained polysomnography and electromyography waveforms, we identified two deglutition patterns with and without respiratory arousal during sleep. We found a significant negative correlation between the index of deglutition in sleep stage 1 and the AHI, with a correlation coefficient of –0.48. (p=0.02)

In the current study, we distinguished deglutition during sleep with and without arousal. In addition we discovered a significant negative correlation between the index of deglutition in sleep stage 1 and the AHI. This new finding will provide a platform for future research on OSA in aspiration pneumonia.

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