Vol. 1, Issue 4, Part D (2015)

Background and Objective: Research indicates that thyroid illness can be affected by both environmental variables and ethnicity. The objective of this study was to ascertain the attributes and factors associated with thyroid disease in relation to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), as well as to determine the frequency of thyroid disease in persons diagnosed with OSA through laboratory testing.

Methods: The present investigation was carried out at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Narayana Medical College, located in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, over the period spanning from January 2014 to December 2014. The serum levels of free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were evaluated in all patients who were referred to the sleep disorders center for an overnight sleep study. The levels were evaluated four weeks after the sleep study. Type I attended polysomnography (PSG) was performed on all 100 patients.

Result: Furthermore, those diagnosed with hypothyroidism had increased body weight and a higher propensity for developing diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Additionally, they experienced prolonged durations during which their SaO₂ levels fell below 90. There was a notable association between male patients diagnosed with hypothyroidism and their body weight, duration of SaO₂ > 90%, and desaturation index (33.3 32.4 min vs. 13.5 24.4 min, p<0.05). There were no significant differences observed between euthyroid and hypothyroid cases among female patients with OSA. Among the 53 patients who did not exhibit obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a total of seven individuals (13.2%) were identified as having clinical hypothyroidism and were already undergoing thyroxine replacement therapy.

Conclusion: The prevalence of newly identified clinical hypothyroidism in individuals with obstructive sleep apnea was relatively low, although subclinical hypothyroidism was prevalent among OSA patients.