AUTHOR=Xu Xin-Da , Chen Bin-Jun , Sun An-Rong , Zhang Qing , Cheng Ying , Ren Dong-Dong , Yu Jing , Luo Hui-Ping 

TITLE=Uneven Effects of Sleep Apnea on Semicircular Canals and Otolithic Organs

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2022.819721

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2022.819721

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p>This study aimed to explore how obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects the function of each vestibular organ and to identify the correlations among them.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A prospective study was conducted involving 32 healthy controls and 64 patients with OSA. The objective detection methods of the utricle and saccule are vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs). A combination of the caloric test and video head impulse test (vHIT) was used to comprehensively evaluate the objective function of semicircular canals.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Elevated thresholds (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), decreased waveform amplitudes (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), prolonged first wave latencies (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), and shortened first interpeak latencies (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) were observed in both ocular VEMP (oVEMP) and cervical VEMP (cVEMP). A significant difference was found in the caloric test comparison (χ<sup>2</sup> = 4.030, <italic>p</italic> = 0.045) but not in the vHIT. The intergroup comparison of normal rates among the VEMPs, caloric test, and vHIT groups showed a significant difference (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The impairment of vestibular function in patients with OSA was uneven and biased. More attention should be given to vestibular dysfunction in the diagnosis and treatment of OSA.</p></sec>