Sleep apnoea-hypopnoea index is an independent predictor of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein elevation

Recent reports have identified the apnoea and hypopnoea index (AHI) as an additional independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, several studies reported contradictory results about the association between the serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level and the severity of apnoea.

The purpose of this work is to study this association in patients referred to the sleep laboratory for clinical suspicion of sleep apnoea and presenting a wide range of AHI.

Forty-nine consecutive patients were included in the study. The SigmaStat software package (Jandle Scientific) was used. Multilinear regression analysis was tested using a stepwise backward selection of the explicative variables. The clinical characteristics (diabetes, hypertension, smoking habits, gender) were treated as dichotomous variables, while all other data (age, BMI, lipids, white blood cells) were continuous ones; high-sensitivity (hs)-CRP was the dependent variable.

In univariate analysis, AHI was correlated to hs-CRP: R = 0.43, p = 0.002. In multivariate analyses, we found an independent association between the AHI, adjusted for classical cardiovascular risk factors, and hs-CRP.

In a sample of 49 patients, referred to the sleep laboratory for suspicion of sleep apnoea in routine practice, we observed an independent association between the AHI and hs-CRP.