The following six parameters were studied in 119 patients who responded to a questionnairebased long-term survey of 208 adults who had undergone surgery for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in the previous 8 years: 1) snoring, 2) sleep apnea, 3) daytime sleepiness, 4) nocturnal arousal, 5) malaise, and 6) quality of sleep.
The patients were divided into a markedly or moderately improved group (group A) and a slightly improved or unchanged group (group B) based on improvement of the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) after surgery.
In group A, improvement of snoring, sleep apnea, daytime sleepiness, and quality of sleep tended to decrease over the long term.
In group B, improvement of these four symptoms was more marked than improvement of the AHI in the early postoperative period (1 year after surgery), with a significant difference between the two. The same pattern was also apparent in the long-term results.
There was no major difference between the improvement of nocturnal awakening or malaise and improvement of the AHI over either the short or long term in groups A or B.
