Abstract
Objective: The sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) status was determined by simple polysomnography (PSG), the standard method of screening for the disease, and the types of people who need to undergo SAS screening were identified from associations of SAS with lifestyle habits, sleep-related symptoms and health check-up data.
Methods: The subjects were 606 persons (444 males, 162 females, mean age 55) who underwent simple PSG. PSG results were evaluated according to the respiratory disturbance index (RDI) and associations with lifestyle habits, sleep-related symptoms, Epworth sleepiness scale score and health check-up data were examined.
Results: Three hundred sixty-one subjects (59.6%) were considered to require secondary testing and CPAP therapy was initiated for 86 of the 174 subjects who underwent secondary testing. While RDI was associated with snoring and cessation of breathing, being in employment, and drinking habit, there were no associations with the subjective symptoms of satisfaction with sleep, early morning headache, nocturnal awakening and ESS score. Among health check-up data, there were associations with BMI, abdominal circumference, blood pressure, FPG, TG and uric acid, with particularly strong associations for abdominal circumference and BMI.
Conclusion: In the present study around 60% of the subjects required secondary testing and treatment was initiated in many of them so it was assumed that there are a large number of latent SAS patients. Also, the findings suggested that regardless of whether daytime sleepiness, or other subjective symptoms are present or not, those tending toward obesity with cessation of breathing have a high possibility of SAS and require secondary testing.
