Gender differences in the influence of obstructive sleep apnea on optic nerve head circulation

We investigated gender differences in the optic nerve head (ONH) microcirculation status in association with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) by using laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG). We evaluated 150 men (60.5 ± 11.0 yrs) and 45 women (63.0 ± 10.6 yrs) who underwent overnight polysomnography. The mean blur rate (MBR), maximum (Max) MBR, and minimum (Min) MBR were evaluated. The parameters were analyzed separately for the tissues, vessels, and throughout the ONH (All). The apnea hypopnea index (AHI: times/hr), the lowest SpO2%, and the mean SpO2% were calculated as indicators of OSA. We investigated which MBR sections are correlated with OSA parameters separately in the men and women. All MBR sections in the women were significantly positively correlated with the lowest SpO2. In the men, no MBR section was correlated with any OSA parameters. The factors contributing independently to MBR-Tissue were height (β = 0.31) and lowest SpO2 (β = 0.30). The lowest SpO2 in the women was significantly positively correlated with Max MBR-Tissue, Max MBR-All, and Min MBR-All. Our results confirmed a gender difference in characteristics of ONH microcirculation in association with OSA.