Chest
Clinical InvestigationsMortality and Apnea Index in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Experience in 385 Male Patients
Section snippets
Methods
Data were gathered from the charts of all patients who underwent evaluation of sleep apnea between 1978 and 1986 and had at least five abnormal respiratory events per hour of sleep (see definitions below). For evaluation of apnea, all patients had a complete sleep and medical history, physical examination, completed a sleep questionnaire, and received an all-night polysomnogram. All recordings included standard placements for continuous monitoring of the central and occipital
Results
Data concerning mortality were available for 385 males above the age of 15. The characteristics of the patient subgroups are shown in Table 2. There were 246 adult male patients who were not treated with tracheostomy, CPAP, or UPPP The cumulative survival of this group is shown in Figure 1.
Discussion
Of 385 male OSA patients, 22 died between 1978 and 1986. Patients with an AI exceeding 20 have a higher mortality than patients with an AI of less than 20. This effect is apparent when examining the population of individuals below the age of 50 years when other diseases normally do not increase mortality. On the other hand, on examining the population above the age of 50, the result is not as clear cut. This is probably related to the fact that other diseases start to have an effect on
Conclusions
Patients with AI indices >20 have an increased mortality, and two of the commonly used treatments have an effect on prolonging survival. Our data for UPPP suggest that: 1) a clinical trial of this therapy be evaluated, and 2) that these patients should be restudied post-surgery and followed-up closely by their physicians on a long-term basis.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to thank Steven Poplaw for his help in data reduction.
References (15)
- et al.
Sleep apnea patients have more automobile accidents
Lancet
(1987) - et al.
Snoring and cerebral infarction
Lancet
(1985) - et al.
Snoring as a risk factor for hypertension and angina pectoris
Lancet
(1985) - et al.
Relationship of ventricular ectopy to nocturnal O2 desaturation in patients with obstructive sleep apnea
Chest
(1985) - et al.
Sleep apnea in a hypertensive population
Lancet
(1984) - et al.
Prevalence of sleep apnea syndrome among patients with essential hypertension
Am Heart J
(1984) - et al.
Clinical overview of the sleep apnea syndromes
Cited by (0)
Manuscript received April 15; accepted April 21 for rapid publication processing.