Objective:

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a prevalent disease in the community. It is thought that factors such as age, gender and smoking increase the risk of developing OSAS. The aim of this study was to determine any correlation between age, gender, smoking and an individual’s risk of developing OSAS.

Methods:

The research was conducted on patients with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) >5 who were diagnosed with OUAS in a polysomnography study conducted in Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases Research and Training Hospital’s Sleep Laboratory between September and January 2008. The control comprised individuals with an AHI >5 and a body mass index (BMI) >30 who were diagnosed with simple snoring in the same period. OSAS patients were assigned to three groups: the slight OSAS group was made up of individuals with an AHI of 5-14, the intermediate OSAS group included individuals with an AHI of 15-29 and the heavy OSAS group included individuals with an AHI ≥30. The study was carried out on 85 individuals, with 20 patients from each of the OSAS groups, and 25 control group members. Each patient completed an information form that included identification details and information on BMI and smoking history.

Results:

The mean age of patients with OSAS was 49.25±9.5 years, the mean BMI was 31.78±5.25 kg/m2 and 39.2% of the patients were recorded as smokers. 75% of the OSAS patients were male and they were older by comparison than the individuals in the control group that were diagnosed with simple snoring.

Conclusion:

It was determined in this study that in the OSAS groups, the age and male-gender parameters were significantly higher than in the control group, but in terms of smoking there was no significant difference between either of the groups. When the OSAS patients were compared with one another in terms of the severity of OUAS, a significant correlation was found between the severity of OSAS and age, gender, BMI, and smoking.

Keywords: Correlation, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, age, gender, smoking