Clinical predictors of obstructive sleep apnea among residents of Sagamu local government area of Ogun State

Abstract

Background Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most commonly diagnosed sleep-associated pulmonary disorder in the world. So many risk factors have been attributed to OSA; however, conflicting results exist on how these factors contribute to OSA. Purpose This study hypothesized that increasing the number of risk factors for OSA, as reflected in the STOP-BANG questionnaire, increases the probability of having OSA but also increases the likelihood of having other severe diseases such as hypertension in a Nigerian population and that the severity of OSA might be dependent on specific anthropometric indices. Methods This study involved 110 male and female residents of Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State. Data was collected using a standardized instrument and the STOP-BANG questionnaire. Analysis involved descriptive statistics, parametric test of independent t-test to characterize data based on gender, and multinomial regressions to determine predictive factors of the various parameters of study on the severity of OSA. Results The association of the male gender with higher risk of OSA was confirmed by this study. Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) predicted the risk of OSA, with an increase in DBP and HR implying higher risk of OSA. Of the anthropometric tests examined in this study, body mass index (BMI), neck circumference (NC), and neck height ratio (NHtR) predicted the risk of OSA in comparing low risk and medium risk to high risk, an increase in BMI and NC implying a higher risk of OSA while an increase in NHtR implying a lower risk of OSA.