- Home
- Medical news & Guidelines
- Anesthesiology
- Cardiology and CTVS
- Critical Care
- Dentistry
- Dermatology
- Diabetes and Endocrinology
- ENT
- Gastroenterology
- Medicine
- Nephrology
- Neurology
- Obstretics-Gynaecology
- Oncology
- Ophthalmology
- Orthopaedics
- Pediatrics-Neonatology
- Psychiatry
- Pulmonology
- Radiology
- Surgery
- Urology
- Laboratory Medicine
- Diet
- Nursing
- Paramedical
- Physiotherapy
- Health news
- AYUSH
- State News
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Andhra Pradesh
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Assam
- Bihar
- Chandigarh
- Chattisgarh
- Dadra and Nagar Haveli
- Daman and Diu
- Delhi
- Goa
- Gujarat
- Haryana
- Himachal Pradesh
- Jammu & Kashmir
- Jharkhand
- Karnataka
- Kerala
- Ladakh
- Lakshadweep
- Madhya Pradesh
- Maharashtra
- Manipur
- Meghalaya
- Mizoram
- Nagaland
- Odisha
- Puducherry
- Punjab
- Rajasthan
- Sikkim
- Tamil Nadu
- Telangana
- Tripura
- Uttar Pradesh
- Uttrakhand
- West Bengal
- Medical Education
- Industry
Sleep Apnea strongly linked to Visceral Adiposity in Geriatric Patients, Study finds
![Sleep Apnea strongly linked to Visceral Adiposity in Geriatric Patients, Study finds Sleep Apnea strongly linked to Visceral Adiposity in Geriatric Patients, Study finds](https://medicaldialogues.in/h-upload/2021/03/27/750x450_150679-sleep-apnea.webp)
According to researchers from the Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China, it was found out that visceral adiposity (VA) is strongly associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in elderly patients, while general adiposity linkage to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in non-elderly patients is known.
The study is published in the Neurology Live.
"Although some subjects may have never been clinically categorized as overweight or obese, if they have increased VA, they may be at increased risk of OSA and its adverse health outcomes. However, this hypothesis needs yet to be tested in the elderly," described Xinmin Liu, MD, president and respiratory specialist and the lead author of the study.
The researchers evaluated a total of 169 patients aged at least 65 years (elderly) and 142 patients aged less than 65 years (non-elderly) referred for overnight polysomnography (PSG). More than 80% of participants were men (82.3% in elderly and 84.5% in non-elderly).
Mild or no OSA was present in 69 participants (41% of total; 38 in elderly and 31 in non-elderly), moderate OSA was present in 104 (62% of total; 47 in elderly and 57 in non-elderly) and severe OSA was present in 138 (82% of total; 84 in elderly and 534 in non-elderly).
Patients reported smoking (25.1%) and drinking (23.2%), as well as comorbidities such as dyslipidemia (n = 263), hypertension (n = 229), thyroid diseases (n = 171), fatty liver (n =139), coronary heart disease (n = 122), diabetes (n = 105), gastroesophageal reflux disease (n = 69), hyperuricemia (n = 78), stroke (n = 66), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 25), cancer (n = 24), and chronic kidney disease (n = 20).
The results showed the following findings-
a. Increasing OSA severity was associated with increasing markers of obesity such as BMI, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), WC/HC ratio, NC/height (H) ratio, WC/H ratio, conicity index, SA, and VA (all P <.02) but was not associated with neck circumference (NC) and VA/subcutaneous adiposity (SA) ratio.
b. There was a significant interaction between OSA severity and age only for VA/SA (P <.005), which increased with OSA severity in the non-elderly and decreased in the elderly, although both VA and SA increased with OSA severity.
c. Compared with the non-elderly, the elderly showed higher conicity index.
d. VA/SA, lower BMI, NC, WC, HC and SA. WC/HC, NC/H, WC/H and VA increased with OSA severity across both groups (all P <.05).
e. BMI, WC, HC, WC/HC, WC/H, conicity index, VA and SA were significantly associated with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) in the elderly, while BMI, NC, WC, HC, WC/HC, NC/H, WC/H, VA, SA and VA/SA were significantly associated with AHI in the non-elderly.
f. The strongest correlations were WC/H with AHI in the elderly (β = 0.296; P <.05) 0.5 and VA (β = 0.422; P <.01), BMI (β = 0.395; P <.01), and WC/H (β = 0.376; P <.01) in the non-elderly.
g. After adjusting for age, sex, cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking and main comorbidities, BMI, VA and VA/SA, explained 25.9% of AHI variability in the non-elderly and 17.2% variability in the elderly.
Hence, it was concluded that "the differences in OSA associations may suggest the need for age-specific screening and therapeutic strategies. However, the results should be considered preliminary and point to the need for future prospective longitudinal studies in a large cohort to elucidate this issue and to explore possible etiological differences between the elderly and the non-elderly."
BDS, MDS( Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry)
Dr. Nandita Mohan is a practicing pediatric dentist with more than 5 years of clinical work experience. Along with this, she is equally interested in keeping herself up to date about the latest developments in the field of medicine and dentistry which is the driving force for her to be in association with Medical Dialogues. She also has her name attached with many publications; both national and international. She has pursued her BDS from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bangalore and later went to enter her dream specialty (MDS) in the Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry from Pt. B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences. Through all the years of experience, her core interest in learning something new has never stopped. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751
Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751