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FRIDAY, May 4, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with thinning of the calvaria and skull base, according to a study published online May 3 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Cyrus Rabbani, M.D., from Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study of 1,012 patients who underwent a polysomnogram and had high-resolution computed tomographic imaging of the head. Patients with and without OSA (56 and 58 patients, respectively) were matched for age and body mass index.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that patients with OSA had thinner mean calvaria (2.73 versus 2.47 mm; difference, \u22120.26 mm [95 percent confidence interval, \u22120.49 to \u22120.04]) and thinner skull bases (5.03 versus 4.32 mm; difference, \u22120.71 mm [95 percent confidence interval, \u22121.23 to \u22120.19]). The mean extracranial zygoma thickness was the same for those with and without OSA (4.92 versus 4.84 mm; difference, \u22120.07 mm; 95 percent confidence interval, \u22120.39 to 0.24). In nearly twice as many patients with versus without OSA, the tegmen mastoideum was dehiscent (37 versus 20 percent; difference, 17 percent; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.4 to 32).<\/p>\n
“OSA was independently associated with intracranial bone (calvaria and skull base) thinning and not with extracranial (zygoma) thinning,” the authors write. “These findings support a possible role of OSA in the pathophysiologic development of spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leaks.”<\/p>\n
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