Abstract
Background: the STOP-Bang questionnaire (SBq) provides a simple method for screening, estimating the Obstructive Sleep Apnea Hypopnea Syndrome (OSAHS) severity, and triaging patients for testing.
Aims and objectives: in this study we have focused our attention on age, body mass index (BMI), neck size (NS) and gender for evaluating the weight of these variables in the risk definition for OSAHS.
Methods: we have studied a population of 464 patients (Male 279/ Female 185)sent at our sleep lab by general practitioners with a clinical suspicion of OSAHS.SBq were collected and home cardiorespiratory monitoring (HCRM) was subsequently performed, identifying 352 OSAHS,stratified for apnea/hypopnea index(AHI)in mild (5-15)moderate(15-30)and severe(>30).Results :Bang variables were first compared between the OSAHS and healthy population:significant differences (p<0.01) were observed in gender(prevalence of males in OSAHS patients),age (mean age:60y vs 54y) and NS(greater than 40 cm) but not for BMI.Then we compared the same variables within the three OSAHS subclasses defined by AHI.A statistically significant difference emerged for NS between mild and severe OSAS(p<0.002),for age between moderate-severe and mild-moderate(p<0.006 and p<0.0002 respectively)and for gender in all subclasses
Conclusions: an inappropriate measure of obesity or the interracial anthropometric differences in a population may affect the predictive role of SBq characterized by high sensitivity but low specificity.It could be argued that the use of better obesity indicator than BMI (e.g waist to height ratio,percentage of body fat) or the redefinition of age and NS sort by ethnic groups could improve the predictive power of SBq.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015