The Interaction of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Obesity on the Inflammatory Markers C-Reactive Protein and Interleukin-6: The Icelandic Sleep Apnea Cohort

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To assess the relative roles and interaction of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity and obesity on interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. DESIGN: Cross-sectional cohort. SETTING: The Icelandic Sleep Apnea Cohort. PARTICIPANTS: 454 untreated OSA patients (380 males and 74 females), mean ± standard deviation age 54.4 ± 10.6 yr. INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Participants underwent a sleep study, abdominal magnetic resonance imaging to measure total abdominal and visceral fat volume, and had fasting morning IL-6 and CRP levels measured in serum. A significantly higher correlation was found for BMI than visceral fat volume with CRP and IL-6 levels. Oxygen desaturation index, hypoxia time, and minimum oxygen saturation (SaO₂) significantly correlated with IL-6 and CRP levels, but apnea-hypopnea index did not. When stratified by body mass index (BMI) category, OSA severity was associated with IL-6 levels in obese participants only (BMI > 30 kg/m²). A multiple linear regression model with interaction terms showed an independent association of OSA severity with IL-6 levels and an interaction between OSA severity and BMI, i.e., degree of obesity altered the relationship between OSA and IL-6 levels. An independent association of OSA severity with CRP levels was found for minimum SaO₂ only. A similar interaction of OSA severity and BMI on CRP levels was found for males and postmenopausal women. CONCLUSIONS: OSA severity is an independent predictor of levels of IL-6 and CRP but interacts with obesity such that this association is found only in obese patients.