• Shigeru Sakurai, Tsuguo Nishijima, Susumu Takahashi, Kohei Yamauchi, Zenei Arihara, and Kazuhiro Takahashi.
• Third Department of Internal Medicine, Iwate Medical University School of Medicine, Morioka, Japan. ssakurai@iwate-med.ac.jp
• Respiration. 2004 Jul 1; 71 (4): 380-4.

BackgroundPolysomnography (PSG) tests are very complicated and time consuming, despite their clinical benefits in the diagnosis of patients with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). A plasma marker would be desirable to select patients suspected of OSAHS for further PSG studies. We have recently reported that orexin-A concentrations in plasma collected immediately after waking early in the morning were significantly lower in patients with OSAHS than in controls.ObjectivesWe conducted the present study to assess the clinical usefulness of the measurement of orexin-A concentrations in plasma obtained in the daytime as a diagnostic predictor to screen patients with OSAHS.MethodsBlood samples were collected in the daytime from 19 male patients with suspected sleep-disordered breathing. Plasma orexin-A concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay before performing PSG.ResultsPSG was conducted in all 19 subjects. PSG showed that 14 subjects had OSAHS and 5 subjects did not. Plasma orexin-A concentrations were significantly lower in patients with OSAHS (4.9 +/- 0.8 pmol/l, mean +/- SE, n = 14) than in control subjects (12.3 +/- 1.9 pmol/l, n = 5) (p = 0.0004).ConclusionsThese findings suggest that the orexin-A concentration in plasma obtained even in the daytime may be a useful plasma marker for screening OSAHS.Copyright 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

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