Correlations between Morphology, the Functional Properties of Upper Airways, and the Severity of Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is considered the silent killer pathology of the new millennium. This is due to increased risk factors such as obesity. Healthcare systems face an increasing burden from severe cases of OSA. We performed a study on a group of 152 Romanian patients with OSA recording data obtained through polysomnography and cephalometric variables, recorded in lateral plain X-rays. The results confirmed some of the data available from previous studies worldwide, but some of the variables presented a positive statistical correlation specific to our study group. For example, the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) correlated with the uvula length but surprisingly did not correlate with body mass index (BMI) because obesity tends to become endemic in Romania. To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies focusing on cephalometric data in Romanian OSA patients. The results obtained through this study will be further analyzed in research on larger groups of Romanian OSA patients.