Abstract

AIM: Some epidemiological stııdies has showed that an elevated C-Reactive Protein (CRP) level higher than normal range in healthy men and women is a strong predictor of cardiovascular risk. From this point we aimed to evaluate the CRP levels of patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea syndrome (OSAS) and OSAS with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonaıy Disease (COPD). MATERIAL AND METHOD: 78 patients with complaints of snoring were included in this prospective study. Standard polysomnography (PSG) (Embla version 4.0. Flaga hf. Medical Devices, Iceland) was performed in each patient. Patients were classifıed into groups according to diagnoze of sleep related breathing disorder with PSG. FINDINGS: 78 patients classifıed into three groups as OSAS, TUAS with COPD and simple type snorer group according to polisomnographic diagnose. There was no statistically significant difference between OSAS, TUAS with COPD and simple type snorer group according to age, gender, smoking status and accompanying disease. Mean CRP values were higher in patients with OSAS and OSAS with COPD group than simple type snorer group (respectively: 0.60±0.60 mg/dl, 1.29±0.92 mg/dl, p<0.001). Patients with CRP>0.1 have spent longer time at oxygen saturation below %90 than patients with CRP< 0.1 (89.75±110.96 min, 21.00±55.89 min, p=0.012) and had higher apnea-hypoxia index (AHI) (42.67±26.91, 20.63±18.35, p=0.024). We also found statistically signifıcant correlation between CRP values and the time spent at oxygen saturation below 90% and AHI (respectively: p<0.01 r2=0.456, p<0.01 r2=0.316). CONCLUSION: According to this study, CRP values were higher in patients with OSAS and Oveıiap syndrome than patients with simple type snorer. CRP may increase in patients with OSAS in correlation with severity of disease.