Background: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the general body adiposity or regional adiposity was a risk factor in the evolution of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) by examining the relationships between the anthropometric obesity indexes such as waist (WC) and neck circumference index (NC), body mass index (BMI), and OSAS in Turkish adult population, and to access the possible differences by gender.
Methods: The data related to polysomnographic, demographic, and anthropometric indexes of the 499 subjects were examined retrospectively. The patients whose apnea-hypopnea index was ≥5 were determined as OSAS group.
Results: The avarage BMI, WC, and NC of the OSAS group (n = 431) were statistically higher than the control group (p < 0.001). According to logistic regression analysis, BMI, WC, and NC enlargement were observed as significant risk factors for OSAS development. Risk coefficients were determined 5.53 for NC, 4.48 for WC, and 2.22 for BMI. Cutoff point values for anthropometric obesity indexes as OSAS determiner were recorded as below: BMI for male >27.77 kg/m(2) and female >28.93 kg/m(2), NC index for male >40 cm and female >36 cm, and WC index for male >105 cm and female >101 cm.
Conclusions: BMI, WC, and NC enlargement were determined as significant risk factors for OSAS development. This was an initial study to determine the cutoff points of which increase the OSAS risk in BMI, WC, and NC index in Turkish adult population.