Open AccessTurbinate Size and Sleep‐Related Breathing Disorders: Is There a Correlation?
Author(s) -
Forest VeroniqueIsabelle,
Benedetti Andrea,
Lavigne Francois
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
otolaryngology–head and neck surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.232
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1097-6817
pISSN - 0194-5998
DOI - 10.1177/0194599811415823a466
Subject(s) - medicine , polysomnography , nose , sleep (system call) , breathing , epworth sleepiness scale , rhinomanometry , hypopnea , apnea , anesthesia , surgery , computer science , operating system
Objective The tail of the turbinates is a site of nasal obstruction that may be associated with sleep related breathing disorder (SBD). We describe a technique, the trans‐oral nasopharyngoscopy (TON), to evaluate turbinate size and determine if an association exists between turbinate size and the various parameters measured in SBD. Method Thirty‐six patients with SBD completed an Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and a Quebec Sleep Questionnaire (QSQ). They underwent a nasal examination, allergy skin tests, full night polysomnography, and TON. Turbinate size was divided into two groups: I) turbinate obstructing 1/2. Results Sixteen patients were grade I and 20 patients were grade II. Turbinate size at the choana did not show any statistical significant association with nasal congestion, allergies, ESS and QSQ scores. Among the PSG parameters analyzed, no association was found with the apnea‐hypopnea index (AHI), but the size of the turbinate showed a positive correlation with respiratory event related arousals (RERA; P =. 03). Total sleep time spent snoring showed a weak association with turbinate size. Conclusion TON is a simple technique allowing the evaluation of the size of the turbinates. Turbinate size was associated with RERA and total sleep time spent snoring, but not with AHI.