MEASUREMENT OF GENERAL HEALTH-STATUS IN OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP-APNEA HYPOPNEA PATIENTS

Sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) is an entity that occurs frequent ly in the population and produces an elevated morbidity and mortality, especially at an apnea index greater than 20 events per hour. To our knowledge there are only a few studies available addressing the genera l health status of sleep apnea hypopnea patients. Such information may be useful for both clinical management and better understanding of th e physiopathological mechanisms of the disease, particularly with the consideration that not infrequently the physiological disturbances fou nd in such patients do not always agree with their own health percepti on. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the general health status and the degree of daytime somnolence, as a major symptom in SAHS patients, and relate them to the number of respiratory events per hour. Measurements of general health status and the degree of day time somnolence were assessed in 103 consecutive patients 50.4 +/- 12 years old [mean +/- standard deviation (SD)] with an apnea/hypopnea in dex (AHI) of 38 +/- 27 events per hour. Forty nonsnoring healthy subje cts were used as the control group. During the afternoon preceding the full polysomnography, a medical history was taken; basic anthropometr ic data and the presence of other diseases were recorded. The Nottingh am Health Profile (NHP) questionnaire and a questionnaire assessing th e degree of daytime somnolence were administered to the patients. No s ignificant differences were found in the general health status and the degree of daytime hypersomnolence when patients were divided into thr ee groups according to the severity of the respiratory events during t he night, but there were significant differences between SAHS patients and control subjects. it was concluded that in spite of the fact that SAHS patients showed a deterioration of general health status paramet ers in comparison with healthy subjects, these parameters do not corre late with the physiological disturbances of SAHS, expressed as the num ber of respiratory events per hour.