Abnormal Prefrontal Functional Network in Adult Obstructive Sleep Apnea - A Resting-state Fnirs Study

Research Objectives: To evaluate prefrontal brain network abnormality in adult with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) based on resting-state functional near infrared spectroscopy (rs-fNIRS).

Design: This was a cross-sectional study.

Setting: In a general hospital setting,

Participants: Fifty-two subjects, including 27 with OSA and 25 healthy controls (HC) were recruited
PSG monitored apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥5 times/h, accompanied by daytime sleepiness and other symptoms. All participants in both groups were right-handed, had no history of nervous system or mental illnesses (including brain trauma), and had not taken psychotropic drugs or consumed substances such as sleeping pills, alcohol, or coffee within 24 hours prior to the examination.

Interventions: Assessment of a 3-minute resting-state prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity with the fNIRS technique. Only the oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2) signal was used to calculate resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and construct a brain connection network.

Main Outcome Measures: The differences between the OSA patients and HC group were compared in connection edge number and graph-based indicators. The correlation between these network indicators and also the cognitive performance were also calculated.

Results: Compared with the HC group, patients with OSA showed widely decreased connection edge number, especially in the connection between the right medial frontal cortex (MFG-R) and other right-hemisphere regions. Graph-based analysis revealed that OSA patients had lower global efficiency, local efficiency and clustering coefficient than the HC group. Further, both of connection edge number and graph-based indicators were significantly positive correlation with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score in OSA patients.

Conclusions: This study suggests that the prefrontal brain network may be impaired in OSA patients and that this impairment is associated with cognitive performance, as measured by rs-fNIRS. These findings provide initial evidence that prefrontal rs-fNIRS could be a useful and powerful tool for objectively and quantitatively assessing cognitive function impairment in OSA patients.

Author(s) Disclosures: All authors of this abstract declare that there are no conflict of interest related to this submission and presentation (if accepted) of this abstract.