Comparison of the pharyngeal airway in snoring and non-snoring patients based on the lateral cephalometric study: a case-control study

BACKGROUND: Normal airways are a key factor during the craniofacial growth of the young. Therefore, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) without treatment can have harmful consequences for development and health. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the cephalometric characteristics in non-snoring individuals and snoring subjects, and investigate differences in the pharyngeal airway space between the 2 groups. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This case-control study included 70 patients aged over 18 years, selected from a radiology center. The patients were divided into 2 groups: case (35 patients with a history of habitual snoring); and control (35 healthy patients). The Berlin sleep questionnaire was administered to the parents of the patients. The nasopharyngeal airway was measured according to the analysis of Linder-Aronson (1970), and 4 indices were measured and analyzed in each of the lateral cephalometric radiographs. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were observed in the pharyngeal measurements between the 2 groups, although all means in the control group were higher than in the experimental group. However, there was a significant relationship between gender and the Ba-S-PNS and PNS-AD2 indices. CONCLUSIONS: Although the patients with nocturnal snoring had smaller airway dimensions, their pharyngeal measurements were not significantly different from the control group.