Prevalencia de factores de riesgo cardiovascular en pacientes con síndrome de apneas-hipopneas obstructivas del sueño.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (CRF) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea/hypoapnea syndrome (OSHAS). PATIENTS AND METHOD: all patients diagnosed with OSHAS during a sleep study between January 1994 and December 2000 were included, with the following CRF being analyzed: age, sex, arterial hypertension (AHT), smoking habits, obesity, diabetes mellitus (DM), hypercholesterolemia (HCL) and hypertriglyceridemia (HTG). RESULTS: 879 patients were included in the study, with an average age of 55.4±10.6 years, with an AHI (apnea/hypoapnea index) of 54.9±28.7, of which 711 (80.9%) were men. The prevalence of the various CRF was as follows: obesity 719 (81.8%) cases, smoking 589 (67%), AHT 535 (60.9%), HCL 581 (66%), HTG 191 (21.7%) and DM 312 (35.4%). The average CRF per patient (excluding age and sex) was 3.4±1.2, and in 660 (75%) cases, there were 3 or more associated CRF. The patients with AHI>30 presented more CRF than those with an AHI < 30 (3.5 ± 1.2 vs. 3.1 ± 1.2; p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with OSHAS presented an increased prevalence of CRF and there was a marked tendency to associate several CRF in one single patient. Serious OSHAS cases had more CRF than the less serious cases.