Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39865248›Full record

ArticleBMC medicine2025

Obstructive sleep apnea and structural and functional brain alterations: a brain-wide investigation from clinical association to genetic causality.

Kang Wu, Qiming Gan, Yuhong Pi, Yanjuan Wu, Wenjin Zou, Xiaofen Su, Sun Zhang, Xinni Wang, Xinchun Li, Nuofu Zhang

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Sleep apnea and orofacial pain: an integrative clinical perspective.Journal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2025
    Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Kang Wu *Sleep Medicine Center, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, NO.28 Qiaozhong Mid Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510160, China.
Qiming Gan *Sleep Medicine Center, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, NO.28 Qiaozhong Mid Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510160, China.
Yuhong Pi *Sleep Medicine Center, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, NO.28 Qiaozhong Mid Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510160, China.
Yanjuan Wu *Sleep Medicine Center, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, NO.28 Qiaozhong Mid Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510160, China.
Wenjin ZouThe Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Xiaofen SuSleep Medicine Center, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, NO.28 Qiaozhong Mid Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510160, China.
Sun ZhangSleep Medicine Center, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, NO.28 Qiaozhong Mid Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510160, China.
Xinni WangSleep Medicine Center, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, NO.28 Qiaozhong Mid Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510160, China.
Xinchun LiDepartment of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Nuofu ZhangSleep Medicine Center, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, NO.28 Qiaozhong Mid Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510160, China. nfzhanggird@163.com.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is linked to brain alterations, but the specific regions affected and the causal associations between these changes remain unclear.

methodsWe studied 20 pairs of age-, sex-, BMI-, and education- matched OSA patients and healthy controls using multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from August 2019 to February 2020. Additionally, large-scale Mendelian randomization analyses were performed using genome-wide association study (GWAS) data on OSA and 3935 brain imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs), assessed in up to 33,224 individuals between December 2023 and March 2024, to explore potential genetic causality between OSA and alterations in whole brain structure and function.

resultsIn the cohort study, OSA patients exhibited significantly lower fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and regional homogeneity in the right posterior cerebellar lobe and bilateral superior and middle frontal gyrus, while showing higher levels in the left occipital lobe and left posterior central gyrus. Decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) but increased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was shown in the bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus. According to the results of Affiliation file 2: table s6, it is the ADC value of right superior longitudinal fasciculus was shown a positive correlation with the lowest oxygen saturation. In the Mendelian randomization analyses, the area of left inferior temporal sulcus (OR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.82-0.96), rfMRI connectivity ICA100 edge 893 (OR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.82-0.96), ICA100 edge 951 (OR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.82-0.97), and ICA100 edge 1213 (OR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.82-0.96) were significantly decreased in OSA. Conversely, mean thickness of G-front-inf-Triangul in right hemisphere (OR: 1.14; 95% CI: 1.05-1.23), mean orientation dispersion index in right tapetum (OR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.04-1.23), and rfMRI connectivity ICA100 edge 258 (OR: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.04-1.22) showed opposite results.

conclusionsNerve fiber damage and imbalances in neuronal activity across multiple brain regions caused by hypoxia, particularly the frontal lobe, underlie the structural and the functional connectivity impairments in OSA.

Indexed as

BrainSleep Apnea, ObstructiveAdultCase-Control StudiesCohort StudiesFemaleGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMendelian Randomization AnalysisMiddle AgedBrain structure and functionMendelian randomizationNeuroimagingObstructive sleep apnea

Identifiers

PMID39865248
PMCPMC11770961

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.