美国加州大学洛杉矶分校研究人员日前公布的研究报告称，在睡眠呼吸暂停综合症患者中，女性脑部所受损伤大于男性。
在这项研究中，研究人员对比了10名新确诊患有阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停综合症且未接受治疗的女性、20名存在同样情况的男性及50名健康男女的大脑状况。他们发现，女性患者的大脑白质受损更多，其受影响的部位主要是大脑前部的扣带束和前扣带皮层。这些大脑区域主要负责作决定和情绪调控，这些女性患者也因此更容易出现高血压和焦虑症状。
相关研究报告已发表在美国《睡眠》杂志12月刊上。研究人员表示，他们目前还不能确定睡眠呼吸暂停综合症与大脑损伤之间是否存在因果关系，其下一步计划是揭示睡眠呼吸暂停综合症患者大脑发生变化的时间点。
阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停综合症是一种常见的睡眠障碍，患者睡眠过程中气道反复阻塞导致不断出现呼吸暂停，最典型的症状就是打鼾。症状发作时，患者血液中的氧分下降，最终导致体内细胞受损，如不接受治疗，最终可能导致高血压、中风、心脏病、糖尿病等严重健康问题。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi: 10.5665/sleep.2228
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Sex differences in white matter alterations accompanying obstructive sleep apnea
Macey PM, Kumar R, Yan-Go FL, Woo MA, Harper RM.
STUDY OBJECTIVES: Females with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) show different psychological and physiological symptoms from males, which may be associated with sex-related variations in neural injury occurring with the disorder. To determine whether male- or female-specific brain injury is present in OSA, we assessed influences of sex on white matter changes in the condition. DESIGN: Two-group factorial. SETTING: University medical center. PATIENTS OR PARTICIPANTS: 80 subjects total, with newly diagnosed, untreated OSA groups of 10 female (age mean ± SE: 52.6 ± 2.4 years, AHI 22.5 ± 4.1 events/h) and 20 male (age 48.9 ± 1.7, AHI 25.5 ± 2.9) patients, and 20 female (age 50.3 ± 1.7) and 30 male (age 49.2 ± 1.4) healthy control subjects. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Brain fiber integrity was assessed with fractional anisotropy (FA), a diffusion tensor imaging-derived measure. Sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, depression, and anxiety were assessed with questionnaires. We identified regions of differing injury in male versus female OSA patients by assessing brain regions with significant interaction effects of OSA and sex on FA. Areas of sex-specific, OSA-related FA reductions appeared in females relative to males, including in the bilateral cingulum bundle adjacent to the mid hippocampus, right stria terminalis near the amygdala, prefrontal and posterior-parietal white matter, corpus callosum, and left superior cerebellar peduncle. Females with OSA showed higher daytime sleepiness, anxiety and depression levels, and reduced sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: Sex differences in white matter structural integrity appeared in OSA patients, with females more affected than males. These female-specific structural changes may contribute to or derive from neuropsychological and physiological symptom differences between sexes. CITATION: Macey PM; Kumar R; Yan-Go FL; Woo MA; Harper RM. Sex differences in white matter alterations accompanying obstructive sleep apnea
