Correlations between Apnea/Hypopnea Index and selectedmorphological and clinical parameters in patients withunilateral or bilateral impairment of nasal patency.

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate the correlation between Apnea/Hypopnea Index (AHI) and selected parameters of morphological and clinical character in the patients with a unilateral or bilateral impairment of nasal patency. The study covered 60 adults, including 37 male and 23 female subjects, 19-69 years of age. In the Department, these subjects were divided into 3 groups: I - 20 patients with unilateral impairment of nasal patency, II - 20 patients with bilateral impairment of nasal patency, III - controls with normal nasal patency. A subjective examination (questionnaire with a sleepiness scale), an objective examination (general examination of the neck and waist diameter, body weight, height, length of the uvula), otorhinolaryngological examination (Pirquet test of the palatine tonsils), X-ray and CT of the head and paranasal sinuses) to determine the cause and location of the obturation of air passages, physiological tests and polysomnography. The correlations between the neck circumferenceheight ratio (NHR) and AHI, waist-hip ratio (WHR) and AHI. The statistical analysis of the study results was conducted in Stata®/Special Edition Program, 14.1 version (StataCorp LP, College Station, Texas, USA). Clinically, the study group revealed: shallow breathing in 47.5% and apnea in 52.5% of the studied patients whereas the control group did not show any sleep disorders. Statistical fluctuations between controls and the study groups were noticed (p<0.001). By the Epworth scale, moderate and severe sleepiness was found in merely 12.5% of the patients. The differences in the length of the uvula and the size of the pharyngeal tonsils between the studied groups were not statistically significant. No statistical significance was found between NHR and AHI, BMI and AHI, WHR and AHI in the studied group.