Accuracy of global and/or regional anthropometric measurements of adiposity in screening sleep apnea: the ELSA-Brasil cohort

Author(s)

Santos, Ronaldo B. ^{[1, 2]} ; Silva, Wagner A. ^{[1, 2]} ; Parise, Barbara K. ^{[3, 2]} ; Giatti, Soraya ^{[1, 3]} ; Aielo, Aline N. ^[2] ; Souza, Silvana P. ^{[1, 2]} ; Santos, Itamar S. ^[2] ; Lotufo, Paulo A. ^[2] ; Bensenor, Isabela M. ^[2] ; Drager, Luciano F. ^{[1, 3, 2]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Heart Inst InCor, Hypertens Unit, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Ctr Clin & Epidemiol Res CPCE, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Sao Paulo, Div Renal, Hypertens Unit, Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Sleep Medicine; v. 63, p. 115-121, NOV 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Objective: Adiposity is a well-established risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) but the existence of a preferable anthropometric measurement is not established or whether the combination of measurements may improve the accuracy to detect OSA. This study aimed to compare the accuracies of body mass index (BMI), several surrogate markers of body fat (in isolation or combined) and validated questionnaires for screening OSA. Methods: A total of 2059 participants from the ELSA-Brasil study given anthropometric measurements using standard procedures and a home sleep study. OSA was defined by an apnea-hypopnea index >= 15 events/hour. Results: The frequency of OSA was 32.3%. Compared with the non-OSA group, all anthropometric measurements were higher in the OSA group. Age and gender-adjusted BMI afforded the highest accuracy to detect OSA {[}AUC = 0.760 (0.739-0.781)], followed by waist {[}AUC = 0.753 (0.732-0.775)] and neck {[}AUC = 0.733 (0.711-0.755)] circumferences, waist-to-hip ratio {[}AUC = 0.722 (0.699-0.745)] and body shape index {[}AUC = 0.680 (0.656-0.704)]. The combination of two or more anthropometric measurements did not improve the accuracy of BMI in predicting OSA. The adjusted BMI had similar predictive performance to the NoSAS score {[}AUC = 0.748 (0.727-0.770)] but a better accuracy than the Berlin Questionnaire {[}AUC = 0.676 (0.653-0.699)]. Conclusions: Despite one's intuition, surrogate markers of regional adiposity are not better than BMI in screening OSA. Combining measurements of global and/or regional adiposity did not have additional value in detecting OSA. The merely fair accuracy range of BMI and sleep questionnaires underscore the need for additional tools to improve OSA underdiagnosis. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/02953-2 - Impact of obstructive sleep apnea and sleep duration on the progression of cardiovascular diseases
• Grantee: Luciano Ferreira Drager
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants