Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: OSA is a rare condition in premenopausal women that do not have PCOS and is most frequently associated with obesity. On the other hand the risk in PCOS patients is thought to be significantly higher. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of sleep apnea in Bulgarian patients with PCOS and/or obesity.

Methods: The study included 30 women – 11 obese, 13 nonobese PCOS and six obese PCOS patients. Anthropometric measurements, biochemical and hormonal assessment were performed for every patient. Polysomnography was carried out according to standard laboratory protocol.

Results: In nonobese patients with PCOS there were no detected cases of sleep apnea. In obese women without PCOS OSA was found in 54,5% and in obese PCOS in 33,3%.There was a strong positive correlation between the age of the patients and the number of obstructive apneas and hypopneas per hour, apnea/hypopnea index and respiratory disturbance index (r=0,63; r=0,55; r=0,68 and r=0,69 respectively). An even stronger correlation was observed between BMI and the abovementioned indices (r=0,72; r=0,54; r=0,82 and r=0,81 respectively). Patients with and without OSA differed significantly in the presence of visceral obesity according to waist-to-hip ratio and waist-to-stature ratio, the rate of metabolic syndrome, fasting IRI and HOMA-index. There was no difference in testosterone levels between patients with and without OSA.

Conclusion: Nonobese PCOS patients do not have higher prevalence of OSA. The main factors for OSA presence are age and obesity and not the PCOS status.