Berlin Questionnaire is a Useful Tool to Identify Risk of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Metabolic Syndrome Patients

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a risk factor frequently present in patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Despite of MetS, moderate and severe OSA has been associated with cardiovascular diseases, increasing 80% the risk of cardiovascular event. The gold standard diagnostic method for OSA is the overnight polysomnography (PSG), that is in general not accessible. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether Berlin Questionnaire (BQ) is a good tool for assessing the risk of OSA in patients with MetS. We submitted 97 patients, untreated and newly diagnosed with MetS (ATP-III) to a PSG. OSA was characterized by apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). BQ was administered before PSG and we evaluated the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy. Of the 97 patients with SMet, 81 patients had OSA, being 47 (48.5%) with moderate and severe OSA. For all SMet with OSA (AHI>5 events/hour), the BQ showed good sensitivity (0.65) and fair specificity (0.38) with a positive predictive...