Turbinate Size and Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders: Is There a Correlation?

Abstract

Objective: The tail of the turbinates is a site of nasal obstruction that may be associated with sleep related breathing disorder (SBD). We describe a technique, the trans-oral nasopharyngoscopy (TON), to evaluate turbinate size and determine if an association exists between turbinate size and the various parameters measured in SBD.

Method: Thirty-six patients with SBD completed an Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and a Quebec Sleep Questionnaire (QSQ). They underwent a nasal examination, allergy skin tests, full night polysomnography, and TON. Turbinate size was divided into two groups: I) turbinate obstructing 1/2.

Results: Sixteen patients were grade I and 20 patients were grade II. Turbinate size at the choana did not show any statistical significant association with nasal congestion, allergies, ESS and QSQ scores. Among the PSG parameters analyzed, no association was found with the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), but the size of the turbinate showed a positive correlation with respiratory event related arousals (RERA; P = .03). Total sleep time spent snoring showed a weak association with turbinate size.

Conclusion: TON is a simple technique allowing the evaluation of the size of the turbinates. Turbinate size was associated with RERA and total sleep time spent snoring, but not with AHI.