Sleep disordered breathing – a new component of syndrome x?

Abstract

Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is a complication of obesity estimated to occur in about 4-6% of overweight individuals. These respiratory disturbances during sleep incorporate a number of conditions including snoring, upper airway resistance syndrome and obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS). It is thought that as well as having deleterious effects on sleep quality these conditions may also promote cardiovascular and hormonal changes leading to an elevated blood pressure and an increased incidence of cardiovascular morbidity. Evidence reviewed here points to an alteration in sympathovagal balance, baroreceptor sensitivity, insulin resistance and leptin, growth hormone and lipid levels. Whether these changes are a consequence of the associated obesity or the SDB itself remains to be proven.

Metabolic syndrome is directly associated with gamma glutamyl transpeptidase elevation in Japanese women

“…Obesity, which is linked with an elevated hemoglobin level, is associated with arterial hypoxemia, which may result from reduced pulmonary function [23,24] . Sleep apnea syndrome is frequently seen in obese persons [25,26] , and is associated with hypoxemia and elevated levels of hemoglobin.…”

Sleep Apnea and Metabolic Dysfunction: Cause or Co-Relation?

“…Proponents of this perspective argue that common genetic determinants may give rise to pleiotropic effects which include sleep apnea in addition to the aforementioned conditions including hypertenstion, central obesity, and dyslipidemia. Such clustering of sleep apnea with other components of the metabolic syndrome was first proposed by Wilcox et al (203) and more recently reiterated by others (204)(205)(206)(207). Even if a common predisposition for and clustering of these conditions is identified, it does not preclude the possibility of causal associations between the individual components of the metabolic syndrome.…”

Alanine aminotransferase elevation not associated with fatty liver is frequently seen in obese Japanese women

“…Arterial hypoxemia is responsible for elevated hemoglobin concentration (Messinezy & Pearson, 1990). Sleep apnea syndrome is frequently seen in obese persons (Messinezy & Pearson, 1990;Coughlin et al, 2001), and is associated with hypoxemia and elevated levels of hemoglobin. Although the peripheral hemoglobin concentration was associated with obesity, the elevated hemoglobin concentration was independently associated with the ALT elevation, particularly in the severely obese women.…”