The role of cardiac and vascular components in blood pressure variability during voluntary apnea in snoring subjects.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the cardiovascular response to the activation of arterial chemoreceptors during voluntary apnea in snoring subjects. Fifty five men were enrolled in the study: 33 snorers and 22 non-snorers (control group). The majority of snorers were overweight and hypertensive. The experimental session consisted of 20 voluntary inspiratory apneas interspersed with 1 min free breathing periods, and 20 min recovery. The following parameters were recorded noninvasively: blood pressure, ECG, and arterial oxygen saturation. Data analysis was based on the Smietanowski procedure, written in the 4-th generation script language of MATLAB environment, which allows assessing the relative contribution of cardiac and vascular components to blood pressure variability. The results indicate that repetitive apneas led to significantly greater increases in blood pressure in the snorers. In this group, the domination of vascular influences during apnea periods reached 67 +/-2.0%, which was greater than the 56 +/-1.8% in the non-snorers (P<0.01). In contrast, the contribution of the cardiac component in the blood pressure response to apnea was greater in the non-snorers: 33 +/-3% vs. 20 +/-2% in the snorers (P<0.01). We conclude that activation of carotid chemoreceptors during voluntary apnea evokes a greater cardiovascular response in snorers, related to the reflex increase in total peripheral vascular resistance, and, consequently, a greater increase in blood pressure.