Journal of Clinical and Experimental Investigations

Abstract

Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is characterized by recurrent upper airway obstruction and intermittent hypoxia during sleep. Intermittent hypoxia and increased inflammatory activity plays a role in increased risk of cardiovascular disease in the OSAS. OSAS is an important cause of morbidity and mortality and cardiovascular disorders are the most important complications of OSAS. Mean platelet volume (MPV) is a marker of platelet activation and function, and increased platelet volume is associated with increased platelet activity. Different diseases related with inflammation, hypoxia, vascular injury, thrombosis and atherosclerosis were found to be associated with MPV. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between OSAS and MPV.
Methods: In this retrospective study, data of sex and age matched 33 patients with moderate OSAS, 34 patients with severe OSAS and 30 healthy subjects were evaluated.
Results: The mean MPV was found in control, moderate OSAS and severe OSAS groups as 7.83±1.00, 8.26±1.40 and 8.94±1.20 (fL) respectively. The mean MPV value was significantly higher in severe OSAS group than control subjects (p=0.001). In correlation analysis, there were positive correlation between MPV with apnea-hypopnea index and total sleep time, and negative correlation between MPV with platelet count and minimum oxygen saturation (Respectively, p=0.003 / R=0.295, p=0.030 / R=0.221, p=0.011 / R= -0.257, p=0.019 / R= -0.238).
Conclusion: In this study, the increased MPV was associated with severe OSAS and the results of this study suggest that the platelet activation is increased in OSAS. Hypoxia caused by OSAS, due to the activated platelets, may play a role in the development of cardiovascular diseases which is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in OSAS.