Prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

Manlio Santilli, Eugenio Manciocchi, Gianmaria D’Addazio, Erica Di Maria, Michele D’Attilio, Beatrice Femminella and Bruna Sinjari
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Manlio Santilli: Unit of Prosthodontics, Department of Innovative Technologies in Medicine and Dentistry, University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Eugenio Manciocchi: Unit of Prosthodontics, Department of Innovative Technologies in Medicine and Dentistry, University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Gianmaria D’Addazio: Unit of Prosthodontics, Department of Innovative Technologies in Medicine and Dentistry, University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Erica Di Maria: Unit of Orthodontics, Department of Innovative Technologies in Medicine and Dentistry, University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Michele D’Attilio: Unit of Orthodontics, Department of Innovative Technologies in Medicine and Dentistry, University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Beatrice Femminella: Unit of Prosthodontics, Department of Innovative Technologies in Medicine and Dentistry, University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy
Bruna Sinjari: Unit of Prosthodontics, Department of Innovative Technologies in Medicine and Dentistry, University “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 19, 1-10

Abstract: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a sleep breathing disorder that often remains undiagnosed and untreated. OSAS prevalence is increasing exponentially. Starting on the dentist’s role as an epidemiological and diagnostic “sentinel”, the purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of OSAS. The clinical diaries of 4659 patients were reviewed through a single-center retrospective analytic study. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. Only 0.26% of patients reported to suffer from sleep apnea and were then diagnosed with OSAS. It was found that, out of 4487 patients, 678 suffered from hypertension (14.80%), 188 from gastro-esophageal-reflux-disease (GERD = 4.10%) and 484 from gastritis (10.78%). These results could be related to a difficult diagnosis of OSAS and to the absence of a dedicated section on sleep disorders in medical records. Therefore, the introduction of a question dedicated to sleep disorders, the administration of questionnaires (such as the STOP-BANG questionnaire) for early diagnosis, a multidisciplinary approach and pneumological examination could support the dentist in identifying patients at risk of OSAS.

Keywords: OSAS; dentistry; obstructive sleep apnea syndrome; sleep disorders; sleep medicine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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