Characteristics of Hungarian patients with obstructive sleep apnoea

Abstract

Introduction and objective: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a common disease which is a known risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic disease and mortality as well. However, the demographic and clinical characteristics of Hungarian patients with OSA are less known. The aim of this study was to describe them. Method: We analysed the data of 394 subjects (58 [46–66] years, 73% male, body mass index [BMI] = 32.5 [29.2–37.5]) who attended the Sleep Laboratory of the Department of Pulmonology at Semmelweis University. The volunteers filled out the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, we performed a polysomnography and took medical history. In 255 subjects, fasting blood samples were collected. Results: OSA was diagnosed in 282 cases. This group had higher proportion of males (66 vs. 35%) and comorbidities (hypertension 74% vs. 39%, diabetes 24% vs. 11%, dyslipidaemia 46% vs. 30%, cardiovascular diseases 22% vs. 5%, arrhythmia 27% vs. 16%), the patients were older (59 [48–66] vs. 47 [39–60] years) and had higher BMI (32.11 [27.78–37.18] vs. 25.29 [22.04–29.03] kg/m2) and C-reactive protein levels (3.0 [1.71–5.34] mg/l vs. 1.71 [0.91–3.31] mg/l, all p<0.05). There was a significant relationship between the propensity of OSA along increasing age, BMI and Epworth Sleepiness Scale; however, the relationship depended on gender for age and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (both p<0.05). Conclusion: The propensity of OSA increases with age, BMI and symptoms burden and it is affected by the gender. Our study highlights the importance of screening comorbidities in different severity grades of OSA.