Snoring, refers to a vibration of respiratory structures. It is thought to be the result of obstructed air movement during breathing while sleeping. In some cases the sound may be soft, but in other cases, it can be rather loud and quite unpleasant. We all snore at some stage in our lives. It is estimated that about 40% of adult males and 24% of adult females are habitual snorers. Treatment for snoring mainly focused around clearing the blockage in the breathing passage. Several research has been initiated to focus on snoring and its awful outcomes.
Recently the researchers at the Chicago have developed a urine test that can differentiate between dangerous and safe snoring. In the study, the team focussed on 90 children to evaluate their breathing problems in sleep and 30 controls. They found that a number of proteins were increased in the urine of the children diagnosed with dangerous snoring. Researchers introduced sleep tests followed by diagnostic screening.
The study involves standard overnight sleep tests and identified the cases of obstructive sleep apnoea(OSA). OSA is the most common category of sleep disordered breathing. It is caused by a breathing obstruction, which stops the air flow in the nose and mouth After the sleep test, the researchers collected the children’s first sample of urine on the morning. In the test, fluorescent dyes are used to separate and characterize the proteins in the urine. Unusually they found three proteins (urocortin 3, orosomucoid and uromodulin) at a higher concentration in children with OSA. As well another protein, kallikrein 1, was found at lower concentration. The team hope that further research is needed to identify the best protein that work for the test and the right time. Also they aims to develop simple colour based test. The diagnostic screening reveals that the children’s renal and kidney function is being affected by their OSA. Dr Paul Gringras, consultant in Paediatric Neurodisability and Sleep Medicine at the Evelina Children’s Hospital, agreed that OSA was an important condition because of its harmful impact on physical health as well as learning and behaviour.