Evidence Hub

Effect of testosterone administration on upper airway collapsibility during sleep

Cistulli PA, Grunstein RR, Sullivan CE

American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 1994

Abstract

Testosterone is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), but the mechanism is unclear. We present a case in which testosterone administration induced or exacerbated OSA in a 13-year-old male. We demonstrated that exacerbation of OSA by testosterone was associated with an increase in upper airway collapsibility during sleep, and that this improved after cessation of hormone administration. Our data strongly suggest that the mechanism by which testosterone administration may induce or exacerbate OSA is through an influence on neuromuscular control of upper airway patency during sleep.

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a case report, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free