Prevalence Of Symptoms Of Obstructive Sleep Apnea In Patients Attending An Inner City Primary Care Clinic.

Background: Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is an under diagnosed condition. Patients(pts) are not routinely screened for symptoms (sx) of OSA as a part of their initial medical evaluation. We did a prospective study to determine the prevalence of such symptoms in pts attending a medical clinic in the inner city hospital. Methods: During January to August 2005, adult pts attending one of the hospitals primary care clinics were evaluated. A physician administered the Berlin questionnaire for screening for symptoms of OSA to pts who consented to participate. The questionnaire included history of snoring, morning fatigue, excessive daytime somnolence, and falling asleep while driving. Patients with prior diagnosis of OSA were excluded. Results:108 pts participated in the study and 104 completed the study. 4 were excluded due to insufficient data. There were 42 males and 62 females. The mean age was 54 years .The prevalence of symptoms of (OSA) in this group of pts was 35.58% . Among the pts with sx, 75.7% were Hispanics, 18.9% were Afro-Americans, and 4.6% were of other ethnicity. Conclusions: Significant number of patients attending Primary care clinic in the inner city have undetected symptoms of OSA which need further evaluation with polysomnography and specific treatment. As OSA is a serious condition and can have a significant impact on the control of co morbid conditions such as Hypertension, Diabetes, Asthma and cardiac disease, screening for these symptoms is recommended during initial medical evaluation of adult patients.