Obstructive Sleep Apnea as a Risk Factor for Coronary Artery Disease

Background and Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is frequent and in some degree it affects about 24% of male and 9% of female in middle age adults. This study aimed to assess the association between risk of OSA and CAD. Materials and Methods: This case-control study was performed among 184 patients with a history of coronary angiography in two catheter labs at hospitals in Qom, Iran. Control group had normal or minimal coronary stenosis ( 50%) and case group had 1, 2 or 3 coronary vessel disease. All the patients completed demographic and Berlin questionnaires and then data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Results: Mean (±SD) age of participants was 55.36 ± 10 years. A total of 119 (61.4%) patients were female. This study showed significant difference between risk of OSA in patients with CAD and those without CAD (OR=1.25), hypertension (OR=10.4) and non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (OR=2.12), but there were no correlation between risk of OSA and ejection fraction less than 45% (P value=0.582). Conclusions: OSA can be considered as one of the important risk factors for CAD.