Association of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome with hematological parameters and comorbid diseases

Background & Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) has a close relationship with many diseases. Hematological parameters are simple diagnostic methods and can give an idea about severity of some diseases. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of OSAS with comorbid diseases and relationship between OSAS severity, oxygen desaturation index (ODI) and hematological parameters. Methods: This retrospective and cross-sectional study was conducted by evaluating the medical files of patients who underwent polysomnography between 2012 and 2018. 1,119 patients (198 controls; 921 OSA) were participated to the research. Results: Congestive heart failure, hypertension (HT), asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) were seen in 143, 424, 254 and 177 patients respectively. Severe OSAS was found more common in male. Except the patients with HT; neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet lymphocyte ratio (PLR) levels were higher and lymphocyte levels were lower in patients with comorbid diseases. WBC and erythrocyte distribution width (RDW) levels were higher in patients with COPD than without COPD; PLT levels were higher in patients with asthma than without asthma. WBC level of the moderate-severe OSAS was significantly higher than the control and mild OSAS (p=0.001). Platelet distribution width (PDW) value of the OSAS was higher than the control group (p=0.005). The apnea-hypopnea index and ODI levels were higher in patients with comorbidity than without comorbidity (p=0.001). Conclusions: It can be said that lymphopenia, high NLR, PLR, WBC, RDW and PDW may be useful markers for predicting severity of OSAS in comorbid diseases. The presence of OSAS should be detected in order to treat comorbidity appropriately.