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Published on: December 18, 2016
Association of hypoxic burden with brain atrophy in Alzheimer's disease
Eleonora Rollo1, Benedetta Tafuri2, Ludovica Tamburrino3
1Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Aging Brain, University of Bari Aldo Moro at Pia Fondazione "Card. G. Panico", Tricase, Italy; Department of Neurosciences, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
Background:
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a common comorbidity in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and may exacerbate neurodegeneration. This study investigates the association between a novel metric of OSA severity-hypoxic burden (HB)-and measures of AD-related neurodegeneration.
Methods:
In this retrospective exploratory study, patients with AD at stage 3 and stage 4 (NIA-AA 2018 criteria), enrolled at a Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, underwent a complete sleep assessment including polysomnography and 3 T brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Correlation analyses were conducted between HB and brain volumes.
Results:
Twenty-two patients (36.4% males, mean age 69.8 ± 7.5) were enrolled. OSA was diagnosed in 40.9% of patients. HB inversely correlated with left hippocampus (ρ = -0.553, p = 0.02) and left amygdala (ρ = -0.496, p = 0.04) volumes. AD patients with OSA showed significantly reduced left hippocampal volume than those without OSA (p = 0.038).
Conclusions:
This study highlights that greater OSA severity, measured by HB, correlates with left hippocampus and amygdala atrophy, suggesting a possible association between chronic hypoxia and neurodegeneration in AD.
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