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Clinical Investigations: Sleep and BreathingBody Fat Distribution and Sleep Apnea Severity in Women
Section snippets
METHODS
All women 18 to 65 years of age were eligible to be candidates for the study if they had been given a diagnosis of OSA by all-night polysomnography at the Sleep Disorders Center of Rhode Island Hospital during the period from January to June 1992. All subjects had been referred for the evaluation of daytime sleepiness, loud snoring, or observed apneas during sleep. Women were classified as premenopausal if they were still having menstrual periods, and postmenopausal if both ovaries had been
RESULTS
Of the 117 women in this age range examined in our laboratory during this 6-month evaluation period, 50 were diagnosed as having OSA. The characteristics of this group were as follows: age, 46.6±1.4 years (mean ± SEM); BMI, 37.0±1.3 kg/m2; AHI, 37.0±4.0 events per hour; and SaO2 nadir, 84.7± 1.3%. All the women were white. Half of the women were actively menstruating; the other half were postmenopausal. Menopause had been induced surgically in nine of the women (36%). Only four of the women
DISCUSSION
In this study, we attempted to define the pattern of fat distribution in our female patients with OSA and also tried to determine whether there were any correlations between fat distribution and disease severity. Our female patients with OSA had, in general, higher BMIs and a greater degree of body fat as measured by skin fold sum than the general population described in the NHANES studies. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that upper-body obesity is a significant correlate of sleep apnea
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Cited by (0)
Manuscript revision accepted May 27.
Reprint requests: Dr. Millman, Div. of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, APC-479A, Rhode Island Hospital, 593 Eddy Street, Providence, RI 02903