title: The association of somatic arousal with the symptoms of upper airway resistance syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We tested the hypothesis that the symptoms of upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) are manifestations of chronic stress. To accomplish this, we utilized the score on a self-report questionnaire for somatic arousal (a component of stress) to compare somatic arousal between UARS patients and healthy controls and, among all participants, to correlate the level of somatic arousal with the severity of UARS symptoms.
  
  
  METHODS
  We administered the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire anxious arousal subscale (MASQaas; a 17-item questionnaire with increasing levels of arousal scored 17-85) to 12 UARS patients and 12 healthy controls and compared scores between groups. For all participants, we correlated the MASQaas scores with scores for the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-Fatigue) scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), SF-36 Health Survey, and Perceived Deficits Questionnaire (PDQ; assessing cognitive function).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to healthy controls, UARS patients demonstrated increased somatic arousal (MASQaas scores of 18±2 and 28±7, respectively; p<0.0001). For all participants, the MASQaas scores correlated significantly with scores of the ESS (r=0.64; p=0.0008), the FACIT-Fatigue scale (r=-0.89; p<0.0001), the PSQI (r=0.70; p=0.0002), SF-36 Physical component (r=-0.78; p<0.0001), SF-36 Mental component (r=-0.74; p<0.0001), and the PDQ (r=0.89; p<0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that UARS patients have increased levels of the stress component, somatic arousal, proportionate to the severity of their symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
authors.forename: Joan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Broderick
authors.affiliation: Novartis Consumer Health, Parsippany, NJ 07054, USA.
authors.forename: Morris S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary/Critical Care/Sleep Medicine, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; DVA Medical Center, Northport, NY 11768, USA.
authors.forename: Mohammad M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary/Critical Care/Sleep Medicine, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; DVA Medical Center, Northport, NY 11768, USA. Electronic address: avram.gold@va.gov.
authors.forename: Avram R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Gold
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D059333:Central Nervous System Sensitization / Q000502:physiology*; D006970:Disorders of Excessive Somnolence / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017286:Polysomnography; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Central sensitization syndromes; Chronic stress; Sleep-disordered breathing; Somatic arousal; Sympathetic nervous system; Upper airway resistance syndrome