Aim and background: The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiology of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in Syria, study the severity of the disease and its relationship with smoking, identify the most common symptoms and risk factors and describe the extent to which patients adhere to treatment and its impact on their quality of life.
Methods and materials: This study is a retrospective cohort study, which included 100 patients with OSA diagnosed through home sleep test. Demographics, medical history, signs and symptoms, risk factors, body mass index (BMI), sleep test results and symptoms after treatment were collected from the medical records of the patients and filled out in the information form.
Results: Out of 100 cases, 64 were males, whereas 36 were females. The average age of cases was 54.7 years, most of them over 40 years of age. A statistically significant relationship was found between gender and the average of AHI. The average AHI of males was 43.1 which is significantly higher than the average of females which is 33.5.
We found a statistically significant relationship between the severity of the disease and the patient’s symptoms (p-value<0.05), where silent apnea was a prominent symptom (84.8% in those with severe OSA and 84.2% among patients with moderate OSA)
We also found that the ratio of smoking males with severe OSA was 86.6%, while the ratio of smoking females with severe OSA was 57.1%. We found that 58% of patients were adherent to treatment, of which 35% were using Auto CPAP, whereas 42% were not committed to any treatment.
Conclusion: This study shows how important and dangerous this disorder is and therefore it is necessary to raise people's awareness about the risks and complications of the OSA and urge them to visit specialized centers to investigate this disease. Treatment devices must also be provided at a suitable price for everyone so that patients can use it and adhere to it. Since there are not enough studies on this disease in Syria, more research and studies are required about it.