Reflux symptom index and clinical laryngopharyngeal reflux as predictors for snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea

Content

Introduction Snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea diseases are a worldwide Problem especially in the western world with wide pathophysiologic background. In this disease oedema of the mucosa and/or chronic swelling causes the airway to collapse especially during nigh time since the muscle tone is reduced. The aim of this study is to investigate if clinical laryngopharyngeal reflux can serve as a predictor for snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea.

Methods Male patients with clinical laryngopharyngeal reflux, defined by RSI>13 and RFS>7, and healthy controls underwent respiratory polygraphy and questionaries. ESS, AHI, snore time, lowest O2 saturation, age and BMI were evaluated. IBM SPSS Statistics 26 was used for statistical analysis. Groups were compared by the Mann–Whitney U test (for non-normally distributed variables) or unpaired t test (for normally distributed continuous variables).

Results So far 40 subjects (19 cases/21 controls) were included (age, mean ± SD: 36.2 ± 10.5 years and body mass index: 27.1 ± 4.3 kg/m2). Clinical laryngopharyngeal reflux correlated with higher daytime sleepiness (p=0.008) and snore index (p=0.001), although there was no significant correlation regarding the AHI (p>0.05).

Discussion The relationship between sleep related breathing disorders and laryngopharyngeal reflux has been investigated by many authors with varied results. However, when looking at our data, patients clinically diagnosed with laryngopharyngeal reflux should be evaluated for daytime sleepiness and snoring. Respiratory polygraphy can be offered to detect possible further sleep related breathing disorders.

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Conflict of interest

Der Erstautor gibt keinen Interessenskonflikt an.

Publication History

Article published online:
13 May 2021