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Published on: December 6, 2016
Gender difference in sleep profile of severely obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
O Resta1, G E Carpanano, D Lacedonia
1Department of Clinical Methodology and Medical-Surgical Technologies, Institute of Respiratory Diseases, University of Bari, School of Medicine, Policlinico, Piazza Giulio Cesare 11, Bari 70124, Italy. o.resta@pneumol.uniba.it
Objectives:
Few papers addressed the gender difference in the polisomnographic features of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In this paper we investigated the sleep architecture and the nocturnal respiratory pattern in a group of severely obese women with OSA compared with a group of men with OSA matched by age and weight.
Design:
A cross-sectional study.
Setting:
Primary-care setting.
Subjects, Main Outcome Measures:
Anthropometric parameters, respiratory function data and a full night polisomnography were evaluated in a group of 45 obese subjects, 20 females and 25 males, with a previous diagnosis of OSA.
Results:
The group of the severely obese women with OSA presented greater disturbances of the sleep architecture than the group of the men does (wake time after sleep onset 92.6+/-52.4 vs 58.2+/-45.2 min, P<0.05; total wake time 104.8+/-51.4 vs 67.8+/-47.4, P<0.05; number of awakenings 15.5+/-3.6 vs 10.2+/-6.215, P<0.001; OSA that occurred almost exclusively during REM sleep (REM OSA) 35% vs 4%, P<0.05) and a reduced sleep efficiency (69.6+/-15.9 vs 80.3+/-14.0%, P<0.05).
Conclusions:
Severely obese women with OSA, even with milder OSA, present greater disturbances of the sleep architecture with a more severe sleep disruption and more frequently REM OSA in comparison with men matched by age and weight.
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