Associations between breath acetone overnight dynamics and obstructive sleep apnea manifestations

Area of Science:

• Metabolic Health
• Sleep Medicine
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent sleep disorder linked to metabolic dysregulation.
• Ketone body metabolism, indicated by breath acetone levels, may be affected by OSA.
• Further research is needed to clarify the relationship between OSA and ketone body metabolism.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between breath acetone levels and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) manifestations.
• To explore correlations between breath acetone alterations and key sleep parameters like hypoxia and arousal events.

Main Methods:

• Collected baseline data and measured breath acetone levels before and after polysomnography (PSG) in 66 participants.
• Categorized participants into normal-to-mild (<15 events/h) and moderate-to-severe (≥15 events/h) OSA groups based on the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI).
• Analyzed differences in characteristics and sleep parameters, and used correlation and multivariable regression analyses to assess links between acetone changes and sleep metrics.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in baseline characteristics, sleep quality, and overnight acetone changes were found between OSA severity groups (p < 0.01).
• Overnight breath acetone differences showed significant negative correlations with AHI, arousal index (ArI), and snoring index (p < 0.01).
• Adjusted regression models confirmed significant negative associations between overnight acetone changes and both AHI and ArI (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

• Overnight alterations in breath acetone levels are potentially linked to obstructive sleep apnea severity and arousal events.
• These findings suggest a connection between OSA and ketone body metabolism, warranting further investigation.