Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess associations between fat pad areas at various anatomic levels and the sites of lateral wall collapse and disease severity in adult patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Forty-one patients with OSA who prospectively underwent drug-induced sleep computed tomography were included. Areas of parapharyngeal fat pads and degrees of lateral wall collapse at three representative anatomic levels (nasopharynx, oropharynx, and subglosso-supraglottis), and apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) were measured. In the subglosso-supraglottic region, the parapharyngeal fat pad area in 17 (41%) patients with complete lateral wall collapse was significantly larger than that in 24 (59%) patients without complete collapse (median, 236.0 mm2 vs 153.0 mm2; P = 0.02). In multivariate regression analysis, the parapharyngeal fat pad area at the subglosso-supraglottic level (β = 0.02; P = 0.01) and body mass index (β = 3.24; P = 0.01) were independently associated with AHI. Our preliminary results supported that parapharyngeal fat pads at the subglosso-supraglottic level may be involved in the development of lateral wall collapse and then determine the severity of OSA. Further studies are warranted to investigate the effect of reducing parapharyngeal fat pads in the treatment of OSA.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to assess associations between fat pad areas at various anatomic levels and the sites of lateral wall collapse and disease severity in adult patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
Parapharyngeal fat pad area at the subglosso-supraglottic level (β = 0.07; 95% confidence interval, 0.02–0.11; P = 0.01) and body mass index (β = 3.24; 95% confidence interval, 0.79–5.69; P = 0.01) were independent predictors of apnea-hypopnea index (AHI)
We found significant associations between parapharyngeal fat pad area at the subglosso-supraglottic level, subglosso-supraglottic lateral wall collapse, and AHI
Summary
The aim of this study was to assess associations between fat pad areas at various anatomic levels and the sites of lateral wall collapse and disease severity in adult patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Forty-one patients with OSA who prospectively underwent drug-induced sleep computed tomography were included. Our preliminary results supported that parapharyngeal fat pads at the subglosso-supraglottic level may be involved in the development of lateral wall collapse and determine the severity of OSA. We hypothesized that parapharyngeal fat pad areas at baseline may contribute to lateral wall collapse in drug-induced sleep which exacerbates OSA. The aim of this study, was to investigate the effects of parapharyngeal fat pad areas at various lateral wall levels on the sites of lateral wall collapse and disease severity in patients with OSA
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