Pharyngeal Size in Snorers, Nonsnorers, and Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Abstract

We measured pharyngeal cross-sectional area and its change with alterations in lung volume in 10 subjects who snored and had obstructive sleep apnea, 6 subjects who snored and did not have obstructive sleep apnea, and 9 subjects who did not snore. Pharyngeal area was measured with use of an acoustic-reflection technique. We found that snorers with and without sleep apnea had a significantly smaller mean (±SE) pharyngeal cross-sectional area (4.1±0.2 and 3.7±0.9 cm², respectively) at functional residual capacity than nonsnorers (5.4±0.5 cm², P2 and 4.1±0.2 to 3.4±0.2 cm², respectively), whereas snorers without sleep apnea had no such decrease, suggesting that their pharynxes were less collapsible at low lung volumes.