Clinical profile of patients suspected of sleep apnea

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome is a disease with a growing prevalence worldwide that significantly affects quality of life and increases cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

To describe symptoms, comorbidities and anthropometry of patients who were clinically evaluated and underwent sleep studies to identify variables associated with a Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI) equal or greater than 15.

We reviewed data from a self-administered questionary, anthropometry, comorbidities and sleep studies of patients who consulted for the first time at a sleep medicine practice from June 2012 through May 2016.

Among 366 patients included we found 47.5% with a RDI>30, 21.9% with a RDI 15 – 29.9, 22.1% with a RDI 5 – 14.9 and 8.5% with a RDI<5. A multivariate model was built using RDI≥15 as the dependent variable. It showed that snoring more than 3 nights per week (OR 2.89, 95%CI 1.66 – 5.05), BMI ≥ 35 Kg/m2 (OR 2.53, 95%CI 1.35 – 4.72), witnessed apneas almost every night or every night (OR 1.95, 95%CI 1.09 – 3.49), male sex (OR 1.81, 95%CI 1.10 – 2.97) and the presence of high blood pressure (OR 1.67, 95%CI 1.02 – 2.74) were the most significant clinical factors.

In our sample, the most significant predictors of a RDI >15 were: snoring more than 3 nights per week, BMI ≥ 35 Kg/m2, witnessed apneas almost every night or every night, male sex and the presence of high blood pressure.