THE BAROREFLEX IN SNORING AND THE OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNOEA HYPOPNOEA SYNDROME

阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停低通气综合征（OSAHS）是指在睡眠期间发生咽喉阻塞导致呼吸困难的病症，包括打鼾和短时间呼吸停止。OSAHS是成年男性最常见的慢性疾病之一，在45岁以上的男性中发生率为5%。现在人们认识到，OSAHS的主要并发症之一是高血压和心脏病的发展。在拟议的研究中，我们将审查的建议，打鼾单独，没有显着相关的OSAHS，也可以导致高血压的习惯性打鼾者清醒和睡眠。特别是，我们将探讨慢性打鼾通过颈部组织向颈动脉传输压力波的假设，颈动脉是大脑的主要血液供应。我们提出，这条动脉的慢性振动可以改变动脉壁中的压力传感器，从而导致高血压的持续性。我们的研究将有助于证明这是打鼾和OSAHS都可能导致高血压发展的机制。认识到打鼾是高血压的一个独立的危险因素，显然将有重要的和广泛的影响，未来的管理打鼾，在预防高血压。

The obstructive sleep apnoea hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS) refers to a condition in which throat blockage occurs during sleep leading to breathing difficulties, including snoring and cessation of breathing for short periods of time. OSAHS is amongst the commonest of chronic disorders of adult males, occuring in 5% of men over the age of 45 years. It is now recognised that one of the major complications of OSAHS is the development of high blood pressure and heart disease. In the proposed studies, we will examine the proposal that snoring alone, without significant associated OSAHS, can also lead to high blood pressure in habitual snorers both awake and asleep. In particular, we will explore the hypothesis that chronic snoring transmits a pressure wave through the tissues of the neck to the carotid artery which is the main blood supply to the brain. We propose that the chronic vibration of this artery can alter pressure sensors in the artery wall, which then results in the persistance of high blood pressure. Our studies will help to prove that this is a mechanism whereby both snoring and OSAHS may contribute to the development of high blood pressure. The recognition of snoring as an independent risk factor for high blood pressure will clearly have important and wide ranging implications for the future management of snoring in the prevention of high blood pressure.