Clinical statistical studies were performed in 166 patients who visited our clinic from 1988 to 1996 because of breathing disorders during sleep. The patients consisted of 118 males and 48 females with a mean age of 45 years. Most of them (91%) were referred to us by physicians (43%), dentists (16%), otorhinolaryngologists (10%), and pediatricians (7%). Fifty-seven of the 73 patients who underwent sleep studies by polysomnography were given a diagnosis of sleep apnea, including 19 patients with severe sleep apnea syndrome (SAS)(AHI>40), 13 patients with moderate SAS (AHI: 20-39), and 25 patients with mild SAS (AHI: 5-19). The clinically evaluated scores of snoring and sleep apnea correlated with the degree of SAS
