Distribution characteristics of intestinal flora in patients with OSAHS and the relationship between different intestinal flora and sleep disorders, hypoxemia and obesity

Abstract Objective To investigate the distribution characteristics of intestinal flora in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) of different severities and the relationship between different intestinal flora and sleep structure disorder, hypoxemia and obesity. Methods A total of 25 healthy volunteers and 80 patients with OSAHS were enrolled in this study. The control group was healthy, and the experimental group comprised patients with OSAHS. The apnoea–hypopnea index (AHI), minimum saturation of peripheral oxygen (SpO 2min ), mean saturation of peripheral oxygen, body mass index, maximum apnoea time and other indicators were collected in clinical practice. The patients with OSAHS were divided into 20 mild and 42 moderate OSAHS cases, as well as 18 patients with severe OSAHS according to the AHI classification. Bioinformatics-related statistics were analysed using the QIIME2 software, and clinical data were analysed with the SPSS 22.0 software. Results The changes in microbial alpha diversity in the intestinal flora of patients with OSAHS showed that richness, diversity and evenness decreased, but the beta diversity did not change significantly. The Thermus Anoxybacillus , Anaerofustis , Blautia , Sediminibacterium , Ralstonia , Pelomonas , Ochrobactrum, Thermus Sediminibacterium , Ralstonia , Coccidia , Cyanobacteria , Anoxic bacilli and Anaerobes were negatively correlated with AHI ( r = −0.38, −0.36, −0.35, −0.33, −0.31, −0.29, −0.22, −0.18) and positively correlated with SpO 2 min ( r =0.38, 0.2, 0.25, 0.22, 0.24, 0.11, 0.23, 0.15). Conclusion Some bacteria showed a significant correlation with clinical sleep monitoring data, which provides a possibility for the assessment of disease risk, but the mechanisms of their actions in the intestinal tract are not clear at present. Further research and observations are needed.