Obstructive Sleep Apnea Severity Correlates with Cellular and Plasma Oxidative Stress Parameters and Affective Symptoms

• Published in: Journal of molecular neuroscience 2012-06, Vol.47 (2), p.300-310
• Main Authors: Franco, C. M. R., Lima, A. M. J., Ataíde, L., Lins, O. G., Castro, C. M. M., Bezerra, A. A., de Oliveira, M. F., Oliveira, J. R. M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Airway management; Anxiety; Apnea; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Biology; Clinical trials; Daytime; Depression; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Humans; Hypoxemia; Male; Mental depression; Metabolic disorders; Metabolic syndrome; Middle Aged; Mood Disorders - blood; Mood Disorders - pathology; Mood Disorders - physiopathology; Neurochemistry; Neurology; Neurosciences; Nitrate; Nitrates; Nitric oxide; Nitrite; Obesity; Oxidative stress; Oxidative Stress - physiology; Pathophysiology; Prognosis; Proteomics; Radicals; Respiratory tract; Severity of Illness Index; Sleep; Sleep and wakefulness; Sleep apnea; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - blood; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - pathology; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - physiopathology; Sleep disorders; Stress state; Superoxide; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0895-8696; 1559-1166
• DOI: 10.1007/s12031-012-9738-0

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is considered a sleep-related respiratory disorder, characterized by repetitive episodes of complete (apnea) or partial (hypopnea) obstruction of airflow in the upper airway (UA) during sleep. The pathophysiology of upper airway obstruction in OSAS is multifactorial, leading to a chronic recurrent state of intermittent hypoxemia and reoxygenation during sleep, maintaining a state of oxidative stress, which seems to be the key to the pathophysiological manifestations of OSAS, and is associated with the development of a number of high morbidity–mortality systematic complications, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular and neuropsychological diseases. This study is an open, cross-sectional, and comparative clinical trial, whose general objective was to assess the correlation between OSAS severity, oxidative stress markers, and the presence of affective symptoms (depressive and anxious) in OSAS patients. We studied 38 adult males, who had been diagnosed with OSAS by overnight polysomnography, between 18 and 60 years of age, divided into three groups: group 1—10 individuals with mild OSAS (AHI between 5 and 14.9/h), group 2—13 individuals with moderate OSAS (AHI between 15 and 30/h), and group 3—15 individuals with severe OSAS (AHI >30/h). All individuals were evaluated for level of subjective sleepiness using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, for depressive and anxiety symptoms by the Hamilton Depression (HAM-D) and Anxiety (HAM-A) Scales, and for parameters of the oxidative stress state, measuring superoxide radical and serum nitrates and nitrites levels. There was a progressive and significant increase in the state of oxidative stress ( p