Atrial natriuretic peptide in habitual snorers.

We studied nocturnal and early morning variations in the concentration of plasma atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in 17 men who habitually snored. The subjects had a mean age of 51.0 +/- 5.8 years, range 41-62 y with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 32.9 +/- 7.3 kg/m2. The concentration of plasma ANP was measured by radioimmunoassay of venous samples at 10 p.m., midnight, 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. All night sleep recordings were conducted with the static charge sensitive bed to monitor body and breathing movements and a BIOX III Pulse Oximeter for the blood oxygen saturation level. Nine patients were defined as having the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). No significant diurnal variation for ANP concentrations was detected. At 8 a.m. five OSAS patients and two others had ANP concentrations above normal (70 pg/ml). Neither mean oxygen saturation during the night nor arterial hypertension discriminated between the high and low ANP groups at 8 a.m. The best discriminators for a high concentration of ANP at 8 p.m. were marked obesity (BMI greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2), over 400 movements lasting less than five seconds, and over 30% of active sleep per night. In a multivariate regression analysis age, percentage of active sleep during the night, BMI and the median oxygen saturation level during the night explained 76.4% of the total variance of ANP at 8 a.m. In a similar analysis the median oxygen saturation level during the night and BMI both explained the variance of ANP significantly. The whole model explained 53.7% of the variance of the ANP concentrations at 6 a.m.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)