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Prevalence of newly established thyroid disorders in patients with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

  • Sleep Breathing Physiology and Disorders • Original Article
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Abstract

Background

Hypothyroidism can directly cause obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) but may also contribute to it through its impact on the metabolic syndrome. The purpose of this study was to establish the prevalence of known and newly diagnosed overt and subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) among patients with OSA.

Methods

We prospectively included all consecutive moderate or severe OSA patients referred for CPAP therapy. A fasting blood sample was collected to determine thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free T4 (FT4) levels.

Results

A total of 280 patients were included (70% male). Mean ± SD body mass index (BMI) and apnea–hypopnea index (AHI) were 33 ± 7 kg/m2 and 49 ± 25, respectively. Median (range) serum TSH levels and mean ± SD FT4 levels were comparable between severe and moderate OSA (1.7 (1.3–2.6) vs 2.1 (1.2–2.8); p = 0.378 and 15.3 ± 2.3 vs 15.3 ± 2.3; p = 0.981). TSH and FT4 levels were not correlated with AHI (p = 0.297 and p = 0.370, respectively), but TSH was correlated with BMI (p = 0.049).Of all patients, 8.9% had increased serum TSH levels (severe and moderate OSA patients had similar levels (p = 0.711)) and 8.2% were newly diagnosed patients (no differences were observed between severe and moderate OSA (p = 0.450)). A total of 16.4% of patients had some type of thyroid disorder. Thyroid function parameters were associated with BMI but not with the severity of OSA.

Conclusion

In our population of moderate or severe OSA, 16% of patients had a thyroid problem and 8% of these were newly diagnosed with SCH.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the contribution of a medical writer, Sandy Field, PhD, to the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pulmonary Medicine, CHU Saint-Pierre, Rue Haute, 322, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Marie Bruyneel

  2. Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium

    Marie Bruyneel, Flora Veltri & Kris Poppe

  3. Department of Endocrinology, CHU Saint-Pierre, Brussels, Belgium

    Flora Veltri & Kris Poppe

Authors
  1. Marie Bruyneel
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  2. Flora Veltri
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  3. Kris Poppe
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Contributions

K. Poppe and M. Bruyneel collected the data, performed data analyses, and prepared the manuscript. F. Veltri performed data analyses and prepared the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marie Bruyneel.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study protocol was approved by the Saint-Pierre University Hospital Ethics Committee (AK/16-01-18/4613).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Bruyneel, M., Veltri, F. & Poppe, K. Prevalence of newly established thyroid disorders in patients with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Sleep Breath 23, 567–573 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-018-1746-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-018-1746-z

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