ABSTRACT
Objective: To study the effect of adding body mass index and neck circumference to Epworth Sleepiness Scale [ESS] for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome in sleep clinics
Study Design: Cross sectional validation study
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pulmonology, Military Hospital Rawalpindi from 1st July 2013 to 01 September 2014
Material and Methods: The ESS and ESS plus body mass index [BMI] and neck circumference [NC] data was evaluated for 150 patients hospitalized in our hospital for polysomnographic evaluation of obstructive sleep apnea. Overnight polysomnography [PSG] was done for all patients and was considered the gold standard for diagnosis of OSA. ESS Scoring, BMI and NC data was done using pre-designated questionnaire. All the data was analyzed using SPSS version 19
Results: Age ranged from 18-74 years with mean age of the study group 53 [ +/- 12.1 SD] years. Out of study population 87 [58%] were males and 63 [42%] females. In study population 80 [55.3%] patients had ESS >10. while 102 patients had ESS>10 with BMI > 35 kg/m2 and NC>40 cm. Using an AHI >/= 5 for OSA, 136 patients [90.6%] had OSA. Sensitivity of ESS > 10 for OSA was 55.15% but increased to 72.79% when BMI > 35 kg/m2 and NC > 40 cm was added to patients with ESS > 10. Similarly specificity and predictive values of study population for diagnosing OSA also increased after adding BMI and NC to ESS
Conclusions: In this study adding body mass index [BMI] and NC to ESS score significantly increased the sensitivity and specificity and positive predictive value for diagnosis of OSA