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Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is often associated with increased body mass (BM). Therefore the aim of the study was to estimate a correlation between body mass or body mass index (BMI) and degree of OSAS. Material and methods: A group of 13 patients 10 men and 3 women with age range 33 to 66 years old with OSAS diagnosed by polysomnography and with BMI > 25 kg/m2 was studied. The patients were divided into 2 groups: Ist group (n= 6) involved patients with mild or moderate OSAS (apnea/hyponea index AHI between 5 and 30) and the II-nd group(n=7) involved patients with severe OSAS (AHI >30). The mean BM and BMI in the Ist and IInd group were 87.7±16.8 kg, 30.2±4.2 kg/m2 and 114.3±11.7 kg , 41.1±5.3 kg/m2 respectively. Results: The mean BM and BMI obtained from the IInd group were significantly higher than in the Ist group (p<0.01). Both BM and BMI positively correlated with the stage of OSAS (γ=0.52, p=0.0056 and γ=0.48, p=0.011 respectively). Conclusion: Results of our study suggest a positive correlation between BM or BMI and degree of OSAS. (Clin Exp Med Lett 2008; 49(1): 51-53)

Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), Body Mass Index (BMI), body mass