Background and Objective:Obstructive sleep apnoea is characterized by repetitive interruption of ventilation during sleep due to collapse of the pharyngeal airway leading to intermittent hypoxia, sleep fragmentation and is also associated with atherosclerosis, initiation and progression of cardiovascular disease. Obesity has shown to be a major predisposing factor for OSA. Anthropometric measurements have shown to be a risk factor for OSA. Though, sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD) has been proposed as the valid measurement of the visceral fat mass and cardio-metabolic risk. There is dearth in literature suggesting SAD as a risk factor for OSA. Hence, this study was taken up to investigate the same.
Materials and Methods:This pilot study was conducted on 50 subjects including both males and females. Demographic data along with the anthropometric measurements like waist circumference, hip circumference, waist hip ratio, waist-height ratio, thigh circumference and sagittal abdominal diameter were measured after which the subjects were administered with STOP-BANG questionnaire and Modified Berlin questionnaire.
Results:The results have shown to have a positive correlation between sagittal abdominal diameter and STOP-BANG questionnaire(r=0.13) and modified berlin questionnaire(r=0.038). There is weak positive correlation between neck length and STOP-BANG questionnaire(r=0.038) and modified berlin questionnaire(r=0.002).
Conclusion:This pilot study suggests that sagittal abdominal diameter and neck length may also be considered as a novel risk factor for diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in larger population.