Premium
Snoring and nasal resistance during sleep
Author(s) -
Miljeteig Harald,
Savard Patrick,
Mateika Susan,
Cole Philip,
Haight James S. H.,
Hoffstein Victor
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1288/00005537-199308000-00015
Subject(s) - medicine , polysomnography , anesthesia , sleep (system call) , airway resistance , sleep apnea , nose , apnea , surgery , airway , operating system , computer science
Although it is widely accepted that nasal obstruction leads to snoring and sleep apnea, the relationship between these variables is not clear, mainly because of the lack of studies in which nasal resistance (Rna) and snoring were measured concurrently. The authors studied eight nonapneic snoring men with healthy noses by nocturnal polysomnography that included quantitative assessment of snoring and concomitant nasal resistance. In six of these eight patients nasal resistance increased during sleep, but there was no significant change for the group as a whole between wakefulness (0.209 ± 0.224 Pa/cm 3 per second) and sleep (0.292 ± 0.203 Pa/cm 3 per second). Linear regression analysis showed no significant correlation between sleeping nasal resistance and snoring index (partial R 2 = .44, P = .071). We used each subject as his own control and compared the snoring profile at a time during sleep when nasal resistance was at its highest (0.550 ± 0.375 Pa/cm 3 per second) and lowest (0.146 ± 0.090 Pa/cm 3 per second) levels. Despite the significant ( P <.01) differences in nasal resistance, they were not reflected in the number of snores or their sound intensity. It is concluded that nasal obstruction during sleep is not correlated significantly to frequency or intensity of snoring during exclusively nasal breathing.