Ageing, soft-palate tone and sleep-related breathing disorders

We compared the tissue tone of the soft palate in 10 young (18-29 years) and 15 middle-aged (30-70 years) apnoeics with 10 young and 10 middle-aged non-snorers and healthy volunteers of the same ages. The obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) was diagnosed by means of the self-reported questionnaire about the medical history of the subjects and polysomnography (PSG) with overnight pulse oximetry. Computerized endopharyngeal myotonometry (CEM) was used to measure the tissue tone of the soft palate. The CEM study is performed while the subjects are awake. CEM records and analyses the biomechanical properties of tissue in response to a brief mechanical impact. Tissue stiffness is expressed as a frequency and elasticity as a logarithmic decrement of damped oscillation.

The values of the tissue stiffness (13.5, SD 2.5 Hz) and elasticity (1.2, SD 0.4) of the soft palate in young adults with OSAS reveal no important differences in comparison with the tissue stiffness (12.7, SD 2.4 Hz) and elasticity (0.9, SD 0.2) in non-snoring young adults. The difference in the value of the tissue stiffness of the soft palate is significant among middle-aged patients with OSAS (20.3, SD 4.7 Hz) and non-snoring middle-aged persons (13.9, SD 2.3 Hz). A non-significant difference was observed in the value of the tissue elasticity among middle-aged patients with OSAS (1.7, SD 0.8) and non-snoring middle-aged persons (1.6, SD 0.3). The tissue tone of the soft palate in young and middle-aged healthy subjects differs by elasticity but not by stiffness.

We found that some biomechanical properties of the tissues of the soft palate may be changed by OSAS and some by age.