ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome is frequent, and misdiagnosed. THE AIM: Of this study is to assess the prevalence of OSA syndrome in a Tunisian population of obese (body mass index > or = 30 Kg/m2) and to determine its predictive factors. METHODS: It's a transversal study. One hundred patients (63 females, 37 males) were inculded. All patients underwent nocturnal polysomnography or respiratory polygraphy. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients had an OSA syndrome: mild (24.6%), moderate (30.7%) and severe (44.6%). We compared, by a statistical analysis, the group with OSA syndrome and the group without OSA syndrome. There was a predominance of men (81% of men vs 55.5 of women had OSA). Age was higher in the group with OSA syndrome (56.8 years +/- 10 vs 48.1 +/- 12, P = 0.04). Clinical symptoms such as snoring, daytime sleepiness, nocturnal awakening and respiratory pauses were more frequent in the group with OSA syndrome. Morphological abnormalities such as retrognathy and/or short neck were significantly more frequent in the group with OSA syndrome (p = 0.05 and 0.02 respectively). Cardiopathies and diabetes were more frequent in obese with OSA syndrome. CONCLUSION: In obese persons, male gender, comorbidities and /or clinical symptoms such as snoring, daytime sleepiness, nocturnal awakening and respiratory pauses, retrognathy and/or short neck are predictive of OSA syndrome. So, we propose a nocturnal recording in obese presenting at least one of these predictive factors.
