Gender difference in sleep profile of severely obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)

Objectives: Few papers addressed the gender difference in the polisomnographic features of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In this paper we investigated the sleep architecture and the nocturnal respiratory pattern in a group of severely obese women with OSA compared with a group of men with OSA matched by age and weight.Design: A cross-sectional study.Setting: Primary-care setting.Subjects, main outcome measures: Anthropometric parameters, respiratory function data and a full night polisomnography were evaluated in a group of 45 obese subjects, 20 females and 25 males, with a previous diagnosis of OSA.Results: The group of the severely obese women with OSA presented greater disturbances of the sleep architecture than the group of the men does (wake time after sleep onset 92.6±52.4 vs 58.2±45.2min, P