Heritability of craniofacial structures in normal subjects and patients with sleep apnea.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Accumulating evidence has shown that there is a genetic contribution to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).The objectives were to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cephalometry to (1) confirm heritability of craniofacial risk factors for OSA previously shown by cephalometrics; and (2) examine the heritability of new craniofacial structures that are measurable with MRI.

Design

A sib pair "quad" design examining apneics, apneic siblings, controls, and control siblings. The study design used exact matching on ethnicity and sex, frequency matching on age, and statistical control for differences in age, sex, ethnicity, height, and weight.

Setting

Academic medical center.

Patients

We examined 55 apneic probands (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI]: 46.8 ± 33.5 events

SUBMITTER: Chi L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4173925 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature