Anthropometric Characteristics of Korean Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Obesity is one of the most important risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). There islimited evidence regarding the obesity-related anthropometric characteristics of Korean patients. Materials and Method: Medical records of 984 patients referred to 3 tertiary referral hospitals for habitual snoring or sleepapnea were analyzed. We defined OSA as apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥5 and analyzed data to determine the anthropometriccharacteristics of patients with OSA such as neck circumference (NC), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), andwaist to hip ratio (WHR). Results: A total of 952 patients (719 men) were included in the analysis. The main findings were: 1) BMI, WC, NC, HC, andWHR were greater among patients with OSA than among controls (AHI ＜5); 2) for both sexes, the proportion of patients withan OSA diagnosis increased with age; it increased steeply for women aged ＞50 years; 3) WC and WHR were most stronglycorrelated with AHI for men and women, respectively. Conclusion: OSA is associated with anthropometric characteristics, although different patterns were observed between menand women. OSA was more strongly associated with NC or WC among men and with WHR among women.