26 Mar Independent associations between fatty acids and sleep quality among obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

MedicalResearch.com Interview with Dr. Christopher Papandreou
Department of Social Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Nutrition Clinic, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Dr. Papandreou: Certain adipose tissue fatty acids measured in the gluteal site were found to be associated with sleep quality parameters in obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome after controlling for possible confounders.

More specifically:

Saturated fatty acids were positively related to total sleep time, sleep efficiency and rapid eye movement in obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids were positively associated with sleep efficiency and rapid eye movement.

N-3 fatty acids were positively associated with sleep efficiency, slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Papandreou First of all, the clinical application of the study’s data may be valid only for patients with similar characteristics to those in the population studied.

The aforementioned adipose tissue fatty acids measured in the gluteal site would have acted as precursors for sleep-inducing substances that in turn may have signaled in the brain to impact sleep quality. Clinicians should take into consideration the importance of these fatty acids in sleep quality beyond the syndrome itself and depression that is often diagnosed in these patients. Since gluteal adipose tissue is considered a reliable measure of long-term dietary fat intake it would be important to provide this information to the patients in order to change their dietary fatty acids intake in the frame of a healthy diet.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Papandreou A randomized controlled trial causing a change in the fatty acid content of the gluteal adipose tissue via a modification in the dietary fat intake would be examined in relation to sleep quality in order to shed more light on this issue.

Citation:

Independent associations between fatty acids and sleep quality among obese patients with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome.

Papandreou C.
Department of Social Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Nutrition Clinic, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
J Sleep Res. 2013 Feb 25. doi: 10.1111/jsr.12043. [Epub ahead of print]

Last Updated on March 26, 2013 by Marie Benz MD FAAD