Abstract P365: Objectively Measured Snoring is Associated with Carotid Vascular Remodeling in Overweight and Obese Adults

Introduction: Snoring is often used as a surrogate measure for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a sleep disorder associated with elevated cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Although the literature supports a link between snoring and CVD, it is not clear if this association is independent of OSA. The objective of our study was to explore the association between snoring and subclinical CVD in adults with and without OSA. We hypothesized that snorers would have a greater burden of subclinical CVD, including thicker carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) and higher pulse wave velocity (PWV). Methods: Cross-sectional analyses were conducted using 24-month follow up data from the Slow Adverse Vascular Effects (SAVE) study, a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effects of weight loss, increased physical activity, and reduced dietary sodium intake on vascular health. The original population included 349 men and women aged 20-45 years and BMI 25-40 kg/m 2 . Participants (n=122) with objective measures of sleep-disordered breathing from a home-based sleep assessment (ResMed ApneaLink) were grouped into three categories using the snoring index (SI) and oxygen desaturation index (ODI). SI is defined as the number of vibratory snoring events per hour of recording time . ODI is the number of oxyhemoglobin desaturations of ≥ 4% per hour of recording . The snoring categories were: OSA (ODI≥5; n=41), heavy snoring (ODI Results: Participants were on average 40.1 ± 5.9 years old (BMI of 31.6 ± 4.4 kg/m 2 ; 76.2% women and 82% white). Across snoring severity categories, most CVD risk factors worsened including age, blood pressure, BMI, lipids, and fasting glucose (ANOVA; all p ± 0.06 vs. 0.63 ± 0.07; mm), respectively. Following covariate adjustment, differences in carotid inter-adventitial diameter and IMT persisted between normal and heavy snoring categories (p Conclusion: Our findings suggest that, in overweight and obese adults, objectively measured snoring is related to indices of local vascular remodeling and aging, even in those without OSA. Snoring severity may be associated with CVD risk.