Clinical trial NCT04980586: Cheeks Appearance as a Novel Predictor of Obstructive Sleep Apnea The CASA Score Study
Official title: Cheeks Appearance as a Novel Predictor of Obstructive Sleep Apnea The CASA Score Study
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Breathing, Sleep-Disordered
Muscle Weakness
Muscle Disorder
Face
Swallowing Disorder
Keywords: Obstructive sleep apnea
Polysomnography
Orofacial myofunctional disorders
Speech and Language and Hearing Science
Ultrasonography
Muscle Contraction
Muscle Strength
Sleep medicine
Lead sponsor: Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2021-07-28
Enrollment: 319
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Adults over 18 years old with sleep complaints undergoing he polysomnography in the private sleep clinic during the data collection period.

Brief summary: Cheeks appearance is a screening tool developed based on cheeks observation to identify volume, flaccidity or both to predict people with probable obstructive sleep apnea.

Detailed description: Cheeks Appearance for Sleep Apnea (CASA score) is a screening tool developed to observe adults people cheeks appearance to identify volume, being 0 for no volume, 1 for mild volume, 2 for moderate volume and 3 for severe volume; or flaccidity, being 0 for no flaccidity, 1 for mild flaccidity, 2 for moderate flaccidity and 3 for severe flaccidity. In the end of CASA score screening we sum up the score of volume with the score and the flaccidity score to reach the CASA score, the final result that can range from 0 to 6 points.

This study was applied in three moments, being the first one only the application of CASA score and a facial imaging to facilitate the replicability. The data collection and enrollment of 248 participants were made in a sleep private clinic in participants undergoing polysomnography. All this part of data collection was applied for a 3 months period. This first part was the validation of CASA score protocol with internal validity.

The second part was carried out 1 year after in which all participants enrolled were evaluated by CASA score and facial imaging, as the first part, in a sleep private clinic while doing polysomnography. Additionally, procedures such as ultrasonography images of specific orofacial muscles, followed by tongue and cheeks pressure evaluation were carried out just after the CASA score and facial imaging based on photography registers. In this second part, others 71 participants were recruited.

The third and last part was a case-control study in which 20 of the 71 anterior part of the data collection were invited to take part in the last part of the study, that was the fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing, so 10 non obstructive sleep apnea participants and 10 obstructive sleep apnea participants were chosen and invited, 19 accepted and carried out the last part. This last part was underwent in an outpatient clinic of an otorhinolaryngologist or ear, nose and throat physician (ENT) with a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT).

Description of the methods:

Ultrasonography was made with a portable device which was positioned in the face of the participant and slide for the direction needed to capture the image of the muscle targeted like masseter, buccinator and tongue. Those were the three muscles evaluated by the ultrasonography exam.

Tongue and cheeks pressure evaluation was made with IOPI medical equipment which had a small bulb coupled in the device and its bulb was positioned inside the mouth of the participant in the tongue and the participant was instructed to press as hard as he could against the hard palate. In the cheeks was positioned in the oral vestibule between the cheek and the teeth, and the pressure was applied by the cheeks.

Fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES): a micro camera of a endoscopy was inserted in the participant nose to look the nasopharynx and oropharynx. The fiberoptic was kept in the nasopharynx to see the participant eating, first a liquid consistency (5 and 10 ML), pureed consistency (5 and 10 ML) and solid food (half cracker and 1 whole cracker). The whole exam lasted 15 to 20 minutes, maximum.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Sleep complaints
* 18 years old or older
* Undergoing polysomnography in the private sleep clinic

Exclusion Criteria:

* Previous OSA diagnose
* Severe comorbidities such as neurologic diseases or others condition that could cause facial edema or facial deformities
* Facial hair that could difficult the facial landmarks visualization
* Previous facial surgical procedure

Primary outcomes:
measure: Cheeks appearance
timeFrame: Immediately after the evaluation
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Thickness evaluation of specific orofacial muscles
timeFrame: Immediately after the evaluation
measure: Tongue and Cheeks pressure
timeFrame: Immediately after the evaluation
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Porto Alegre
country: Brazil
facility: Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA)
state: RS
Study officials:
affiliation: Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA)
name: Dr. Denis Martinez
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Agha B, Johal A. Facial phenotype in obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sleep Res. 2017 Apr;26(2):122-131. doi: 10.1111/jsr.12485. Epub 2016 Dec 26.
citation: Harrington JJ, Avidan AY. Treatment of sleep disorders in elderly patients. Curr Treat Options Neurol. 2005 Sep;7(5):339-52. doi: 10.1007/s11940-005-0027-x.
citation: Guimaraes KC, Drager LF, Genta PR, Marcondes BF, Lorenzi-Filho G. Effects of oropharyngeal exercises on patients with moderate obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2009 May 15;179(10):962-6. doi: 10.1164/rccm.200806-981OC. Epub 2009 Feb 20.
citation: Lee RW, Chan AS, Grunstein RR, Cistulli PA. Craniofacial phenotyping in obstructive sleep apnea--a novel quantitative photographic approach. Sleep. 2009 Jan;32(1):37-45.
citation: Perri RA, Kairaitis K, Cistulli P, Wheatley JR, Amis TC. Surface cephalometric and anthropometric variables in OSA patients: statistical models for the OSA phenotype. Sleep Breath. 2014 Mar;18(1):39-52. doi: 10.1007/s11325-013-0845-0. Epub 2013 Apr 13.
citation: Lee RW, Petocz P, Prvan T, Chan AS, Grunstein RR, Cistulli PA. Prediction of obstructive sleep apnea with craniofacial photographic analysis. Sleep. 2009 Jan;32(1):46-52.
citation: Kim AM, Keenan BT, Jackson N, Chan EL, Staley B, Poptani H, Torigian DA, Pack AI, Schwab RJ. Tongue fat and its relationship to obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep. 2014 Oct 1;37(10):1639-48. doi: 10.5665/sleep.4072.
citation: Yoshikawa M, Yoshida M, Tsuga K, Akagawa Y, Groher ME. Comparison of three types of tongue pressure measurement devices. Dysphagia. 2011 Sep;26(3):232-7. doi: 10.1007/s00455-010-9291-3. Epub 2010 Jul 11.
citation: Valbuza JS, de Oliveira MM, Zancanella E, Conti CF, Prado LB, Carvalho LB, do Prado GF. Swallowing dysfunction related to obstructive sleep apnea: a nasal fibroscopy pilot study. Sleep Breath. 2011 May;15(2):209-13. doi: 10.1007/s11325-010-0474-9. Epub 2011 Jan 13.
citation: Prikladnicki A, Martinez D, Brunetto MG, Fiori CZ, Lenz MDCS, Gomes E. Diagnostic performance of cheeks appearance in sleep apnea. Cranio. 2018 Jul;36(4):214-221. doi: 10.1080/08869634.2017.1376426. Epub 2017 Sep 21.
citation: Smith-Ryan AE, Fultz SN, Melvin MN, Wingfield HL, Woessner MN. Reproducibility and validity of A-mode ultrasound for body composition measurement and classification in overweight and obese men and women. PLoS One. 2014 Mar 11;9(3):e91750. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091750. eCollection 2014.