ArticleSleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung2024
The dark side of apnea: altered 24-hour melatonin secretion in obstructive sleep apnea (OSAS) is disease severity dependent.
Article in Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Melatonin and oxidative DNA damage in REM- and NREM-related obstructive sleep apnea: an exploratory analysis of sleep-stage phenotypes.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2026Article
- The vicious cycle of circadian disruption and obstructive sleep apnea: implications for cancer risk.Journal of the National Cancer Center · 2026Article
- Molecular Biomarkers and Therapeutic Approach of Patients with Diabetes and Obstructive Sleep Apnea.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Risk of Major Depression Associated with Excessive Daytime Sleepiness in Apneic Individuals.Clocks & sleep · 2025Article
- The severity of depressive symptoms as a mediator in the sleep-osteoarthritis risk pathway: insights from the ELSA cohort.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Circadian Regulation in Diurnal Mammals: Neural Mechanisms and Implications in Translational Research.Biology · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeMelatonin aids in the synchronization of the circadian rhythm to the external environment. Few studies have tried to elucidate the relationship between melatonin and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). These often include few patients, do not differentiate between OSAS severity and/or do not analyse a 24-h melatonin profile. This study set out to investigate disease severity dependent differences in 24-h salivary melatonin secretion of OSAS patients compared to a reference population in a retrospective design.
methods24-h salivary melatonin profiles of 169 OSAS patients were analysed (55 light, 66 moderate, 48 severe) as well as 91 reference patients. Several aspects of the melatonin curve were analysed and stratified according to OSAS severity. Parameters included: dim light melatonin onset (DLMO), time of returning below DLMO (DLMOoff), peak melatonin concentration and time, and total melatonin exposure.
resultsSignificant effects were corrected for confounding by age and sex using linear regression. Our analysis shows that, compared to reference and in a disease dependent manner, OSAS patients have a significantly lower 24-h melatonin curve, lower melatonin peak concentration, lower total melatonin exposure and a smaller proportion of patients reach DLMO. The differences in peak melatonin production and total melatonin exposure were resistant to confounding by age and/or sex.
conclusionThis study describes clear OSAS severity dependent abnormalities in melatonin production in OSAS patients, independent of sex and/or age. Future research should indicate whether oral melatonin supplementation has beneficial effects in OSAS patients with attenuated endogenous melatonin production.
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