RIEF OBSERVATION ging Influences on Pharyngeal Anatomy and Physiology: he Predisposition to Pharyngeal Collapse

bstructive sleep apnea is a common disorder with imporant sequelae. Aging substantially increases the risk of bstructive apnea, although the mechanisms underlying his predisposition remain unclear. Most current evience suggests that obstructive apnea results from an interction of the anatomy of the upper airway with the control f pharyngeal dilator muscles. Afflicted patients have comromised pharyngeal anatomy with reduced airway luen. Through reflex mechanisms that drive activaion of dilator muscles, pharyngeal patency is well aintained during wakefulness. However, these protecive reflexes are diminished during sleep, thereby leading to ollapse of the pharyngeal airway in anatomically predisosed people. Thus, aging could predispose to apnea via hanges in pharyngeal anatomy and biomechanics or via eterioration in the function of pharyngeal dilator uscles. By combining magnetic resonance imaging techniques ith pharyngeal physiological assessments, we sought to etermine the structural and functional basis for the inreased propensity for airway collapse among older perons. We included normal and near-normal controls to void the confounding influences of repetitive pharyngeal ollapse as might occur with sleep apnea.