Comparison of the pharyngeal airway in snoring and non-snoring patients based on the lateral cephalometric study: A case-control study

Background. Normal airways are a key factor during the craniofacial growth of the young. Therefore, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) without treatment can have harmful consequences for development and health.Objectives. This study aimed to evaluate the cephalometric characteristics in non-snoring individuals and snoring subjects, and investigate differences in the pharyngeal airway space between the 2 groups.Material and methods.This case-control study included 70 patients aged over 18 years, selected from a radiology center. The patients were divided into 2 groups: case (35 patients with a history of habitual snoring); and control (35 healthy patients). The Berlin sleep questionnaire was administered to the parents of the patients. The nasopharyngeal airway was measured according to the analysis of Linder-Aronson (1970), and 4 indices were measured and analyzed in each of the lateral cephalometric radiographs.Results. No statistically significant differences were observed in the pharyngeal measurements between the 2 groups, although all means in the control group were higher than in the experimental group. However, there was a significant relationship between gender and the Ba-S-PNS and PNS-AD2 indices.Conclusions. Although the patients with nocturnal snoring had smaller airway dimensions, their pharyn-geal measurements were not significantly different from the control group.

Automated summary

This study aimed to evaluate cephalometric characteristics in non-snoring individuals and snoring subjects, and investigate differences in the pharyngeal airway space between the two groups. The results showed that the patients with nocturnal snoring had smaller airway dimensions, but their pharyngeal measurements were not significantly different from the control group.