Table 4.
Single Mediator Modeling Results Evaluating Percent Changes in Airway, Soft Tissue, and Abdominal Fat as Mediators of the Relationship between Percent Change in Weight and Apnea–Hypopnea Index
| Domain/Measure | Indirect Effect (Bias-corrected 95% CI)*† |
|
|---|---|---|
| Standardized | Unstandardized | |
| Airway sizes | ||
| RP airway volume | −0.013 (−0.101 to 0.025) | −0.082 (−0.559 to 0.157) |
| RP average airway area per slice | −0.025 (−0.116 to 0.019) | −0.154 (−0.656 to 0.117) |
| RP minimum area | −0.0002 (−0.025 to 0.018) | −0.002 (−0.156 to 0.107) |
| RP minimum AP distance | 0.027 (−0.052 to 0.189) | 0.166 (−0.311 to 1.270) |
| RP minimum lateral distance | 0.037 (−0.033 to 0.146) | 0.229 (−0.194 to 0.913) |
| RG airway volume | 0.002 (−0.034 to 0.032) | 0.013 (−0.205 to 0.188) |
| RG average airway area per slice | 0.030 (−0.040 to 0.120) | 0.184 (−0.230 to 0.814) |
| RG minimum area | 0.040 (−0.060 to 0.133) | 0.246 (−0.405 to 0.667) |
| RG minimum AP distance | 0.011 (−0.030 to 0.048) | 0.065 (−0.180 to 0.285) |
| RG minimum lateral distance | −0.006 (−0.048 to 0.023) | −0.034 (−0.296 to 0.137) |
| Soft tissue volumes | ||
| Combined soft tissues | 0.020 (−0.041 to 0.057) | 0.122 (−0.249 to 0.330) |
| Soft palate | 0.006 (−0.036 to 0.039) | 0.039 (−0.209 to 0.247) |
| Genioglossus | −0.004 (−0.072 to 0.036) | −0.026 (−0.426 to 0.235) |
| Other tongue | 0.002 (−0.053 to 0.030) | 0.014 (−0.333 to 0.170) |
| Tongue fat | 0.225 (0.049 to 0.413) | 1.255 (0.238 to 2.572) |
| Total tongue | −0.003 (−0.077 to 0.036) | −0.021 (−0.443 to 0.223) |
| Epiglottis | 0.004 (−0.043 to 0.053) | 0.023 (−0.281 to 0.307) |
| Fat pads | 0.007 (−0.058 to 0.052) | 0.046 (−0.355 to 0.318) |
| Pterygoid | −0.031 (−0.123 to 0.068) | −0.189 (−0.759 to 0.393) |
| RP lateral walls | 0.042 (−0.011 to 0.121) | 0.255 (−0.064 to 0.705) |
| RG lateral walls | −0.019 (−0.082 to 0.034) | −0.116 (−0.539 to 0.190) |
| Total lateral walls | 0.009 (−0.061 to 0.123) | 0.058 (−0.400 to 0.649) |
| Abdominal fat volumes | ||
| Abdominal visceral fat | −0.043 (−0.183 to 0.090) | −0.289 (−1.303 to 0.583) |
| Abdominal subcutaneous fat | 0.001 (−0.121 to 0.119) | 0.004 (−0.792 to 0.841) |
| Abdominal total fat | −0.018 (−0.153 to 0.103) | −0.120 (−1.029 to 0.742) |
Definition of abbreviations: AP = anterior–posterior; CI = confidence interval; RG = retroglossal; RP = retropalatal.
Significant values are shown in bold.
*
Estimate of indirect (mediating) effect and bootstrapped 95% CI.
†
All models corrected for age, sex, race, and height.