Sleep apnea physiological burdens and markers of white matter injury: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

ABSTRACT:

Study objectives

Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with cognitive impairment; however, the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Obstructive sleep apnea is characterized by periods of interrupted ventilation (ventilatory burden), leading to hypoxemia (hypoxic burden) and/or arousal (arousal burden) from sleep. Although hypoxemia is considered a key mechanism underlying white matter injury, its measurement has been limited. In our primary analysis, we assessed the association of hypoxic burden, a quantitative measure of hypoxemia, with white matter hyperintensity volume, a marker of small vessel disease, and compared it with that of ventilatory burden and arousal burden (quantitative measures of ventilatory deficit and arousals).

Methods

Data from particip

SUBMITTER: Hajipour M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11874092 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature