Preoperative Evaluation of Upper Airway During Pregnancy by Clinical Observation and Acoustic Pharyngometry

The present study from the period of January 2005 to June 2005 aimed to compare upper airway dimensions in pregnant and non-pregnant women. A total of 30 women in the third trimester of pregnancy were recruited from the antenatal service and matched with 30 non-pregnant. Upper airway dimensions were measured using acoustic reflection. Of those who reported whether or not they snored, 9% of control women, and 23% of pregnant women reported that they snored on at least one night per week. Snoring frequency increased during pregnancy (p 0.001). Of the thirty pregnant, 5% stated that they started to snore or markedly increased their snoring frequency during the first trimester, 6% during the second trimester, and 23% during the third trimester.When seated, pregnant had wider upper airways than non-pregnant (p 0.02), but there was no difference when supine. Oropharyngeal junction area in the seated position was the same in non-pregnant and pregnant women. Supine oropharyngeal junction area was less in the pregnant women than in the non-pregnant women. The study showed that pregnant women have upper airway narrowing and high incidence of snoring.