GENETICS AND OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP-APNEA SYNDROME - A STUDY OF HUMAN-LEUKOCYTE ANTIGEN (HLA) TYPING

To investigate the possible influence of genetics in subjects with obs tructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), HLA-A, B, C, and DR antigens wer e studied in 32 Japanese subjects with OSAS. The frequency of HLA-A2 a ntigen was markedly increased in the patients with OSAS compared with normal controls (81.3% vs 40.6%) and compared with the Japanese popula tion (40.7%), Pc < 0.035 and Pc < 0.007, respectively. HLA-B39 was fou nd more frequently in OSAS patients than in the Japanese population (P c < 0.018), but not in the controls. No significant deviation was obse rved in the frequencies of HLA-C and DR antigens between the OSAS pati ents and the controls. We conclude that genetics is important in the d evelopment of OSAS.