Usefulness of truncal obesity indices as predictive factors for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Background: Optimization of the indications for nocturnal polysomnography in the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) could lead to significant reductions in health expenditure. To this end, we assessed the usefulness of truncal obesity measurements in the diagnosis of OSAS. Methods and Procedures: One hundred ninety‐two patients (152 men and 40 women) referred to our clinic with suspected OSAS underwent a complete polysomnography study and their BMI and truncal obesity measurements were obtained. Results: Comparison of patients defined as snorers with OSAS patients, by means of the Student's t ‐test revealed significant differences in the truncal obesity parameters such as waist‐to‐hip ratio (0.94 vs. 0.98) and waist circumference (100.7 cm vs. 106.3 cm). We found no significant differences between BMI values in the two groups. Indices of truncal obesity were analyzed as predictive factors for OSAS using a multivariate logistic regression model that included variable sex, and in which waist‐to‐hip ratio, BMI, neck circumference, and age were analyzed as binary variables. According to this model, our patients' risk of suffering from OSAS was 2.6 times greater if the waist‐to‐hip ratio was >1 in men and >0.85 in women. The risk of OSAS was also increased if the patients were men or over 52 years of age. Discussion: Obtaining simple measurements such as those for truncal obesity may help prioritize the use of polysomnography in patients with a greater risk of OSAS. Our results suggest that BMI is not a good predictor of OSAS in a group of patients with a high BMI.