Team from the University of Coimbra studies disruptions in biological clocks caused by sleep apnea

^{Abridged version in English by Diana Taborda}

A study on the impact of sleep apnoea on our body's biological clocks, published in the scientific journal EBioMedicine, The Lancet, points to the urgent need to find new strategies to improve and anticipate the diagnosis of this obstructive respiratory disease, one of the most prevalent sleep disorders in the world, but still highly underdiagnosed.

Conducted by a team from the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology at the University of Coimbra (CNC-UC), the study aimed to understand the extent to which sleep apnoea, also known as Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome (OSAS), can " lead to disruptions in the functioning of biological clocks, which in turn could underlie the different comorbidities associated with the condition, including cardiovascular or metabolic diseases (such as diabetes or obesity), or contribute to aggravating them," explains Ana Rita Álvaro, principal investigator of the project.

To assess the impact of OSAS and its treatment, usually with a mask that delivers continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) during sleep, on the characteristics of biological clocks, the team recruited 34 patients with sleep apnoea followed by the team at the Sleep Medicine Centre of the Coimbra Hospital and University Centre (CHUC) before and after treatment with CPAP for 4 months, and 2 years. Healthy subjects were also included for control purposes.

By taking blood samples from the volunteers (patients in the different phases of the study and healthy individuals) at four different times during the day, "the characteristics of the biological clocks in the cells present in the blood were assessed, namely gene expression and levels of hormones involved in the regulation of biological clocks," says Ana Rita Álvaro.

The results show that sleep apnoea "promotes changes in the characteristics of biological clocks and that long-term treatment (2 years) proves to be more effective in combating the effects of OSAS on biological clocks, leading to the recovery of some of their characteristics", notes Ana Rita Álvaro.

The scientific article published in the scope of the study, entitled “Long-term Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Treatment Ameliorates Biological Clock Disruptions in Obstructive Sleep Apnea”, is available: here.