Sleep apnea in obese miniature pigs

Lonergan, Robert P., III, J. Catsby Ware, Richard L. Atkinson, W. Christopher Winter, and Paul M. Suratt. Sleep apnea in obese miniature pigs. J. Appl.Physiol. 84(2): 531-536, 1998.We postulated thatthree extremely obese Yucatan miniature pigs would have more sleepapnea than three nonobese Yucatan miniature pigs. Pigs were studiedwith the use of electroencephalograms, inductance plethysmography,oximetry, expired nasal CO₂, orthermistors. All of the obese pigs, but none of the nonobese pigs, hadboth sleep apnea (8.5, 10.3, and 97.0 in obese pigs vs. 0 apnea + hypopnea/h in all nonobese pigs; P < 0.05) and oxyhemoglobin desaturation episodes during sleep [9.4 ± 3.0 vs. 0 + 0.53 (SD) mean desaturation episodes/h in obese pigsvs. nonobese pigs, respectively; P < 0.05]. Two of the extremely obese pigs had obstructive sleepapnea, whereas the third obese pig had central sleep apnea. We conclude that sleep apnea occurs in extremely obese Yucatan minipigs and suggestthat this animal can be used as a model for sleep apnea in obesity.