Posture of patients with sleep apnea during sleep.
The relationship between sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) and posture during sleep has been noted and the beneficial effect of an optimal posture on sleep apnea has been empirically indicated. We investigated this effect in a group of subjects that included obese patients and found that the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) may be normalized in the lateral position, even among patients severely affected with apnea. Among those with intermediate or lower AHI values sleeping in a lateral position markedly improved the symptoms, with AHI even approaching the normal range in many patients. A tendency was noted for AHI to rise regardless of posture but in proportion to the increase in body mass index (BMI). In other words, the improvement due to changes in posture became increasingly insignificant with increase in BMI.
Department of Otolaryngology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan. ban-jibi@ninus.ocn.ne.jp
Yasutaka
Y
Akita
Kenji
K
Kawakatsu
Chikaya
C
Hattori
Hirokazu
H
Hattori
Kenji
K
Suzuki
Tadao
T
Nishimura
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001784:Blood Gas Analysis; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017286:Polysomnography; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D013997:Time Factors