Vol.95 No.2 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 95 No. 2 February 2002
The Correlation between Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome and Obesity
Kosei Takeda, Muneo Nakaya and Masatoshi Horiuchi
(Central Hospital National Defense Agency)
Tomoaki Kai
(Sendai Hospital National Defense Agency)
To investigate the correlation between obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and obesity, 71 OSAS patients whose sites of obstruction were diagnosed based on sleep nasendoscopy findings were studied. The patients were subdivided into three groups by body mass index (BMI) as follows: Group A, 24 patients with BMI less than 25 (kg/m2); Group B, 19 patients with BMI between 25 and 28; and Group C, 28 patients with BMI more than 28. Variables examined include the apnea index (AI), 4％ O2 desaturation index (DI), nadir SpO2, and cephalometric data (SNA, SNB, PNS-U, MP-H, PAS). AI and cephalometric data were not correlated with BMI, but DI and nadir SpO2 were mutually correlated with BMI. These data suggest that OSAS may be worsened by obesity. Of the 71 patients, 45 were treated with surgery based on sleep nasendoscopy findings, and 33 patients, AI, DI, and nadir SpO2 were evaluated after surgery. There was a 77.4％ and 72.7％ improvement in the AI and DI respectively, but neither were correlated with BMI. The response rates were slightly better than previous reports. We believe that careful patient selection using sleep nasendoscopy data as well as avoiding surgery for extremely obese patients when possible may contribute to good results of surgical treatments.
Key words : obstructive sleep apnea, obesity, sleep nasendoscopy, surgical treatment