Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Adiponectin Gene Are Not Directly Associated with Increased Risk of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome in a Chinese Han Population

PURPOSE: This study aims to test the possible correlation between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the adiponectin gene and increased risk of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) in a Chinese Han population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 266 subjects were enrolled into the study to detect 9 SNPs in the adiponectin gene. Multivariate unconditional logistic regression analysis, adjusted for gender and age, was used to estimate the associations of these SNPs with OSAS risk. RESULTS: No evidence of a direct association was observed between these SNPs and the risk of OSAS in the Chinese Han population. However, the stratified analysis also revealed a remarkable genotype difference for SNP rs6773957 between cases and controls in the overweight subgroup (p < 0.05). In addition, the allele or genotype distributions of rs12495941, rs182052, and rs16861205 had significant differences with regard to the severity of OSAS (p < 0.05). No differences were identified in the other subgroups. CONCLUSION: The current research demonstrated that the SNPs in the adiponectin gene did not represent susceptibility loci for OSAS in Chinese Han individuals overall. However, variants of rs6773957 have an association with OSAS in overweight individuals. In addition, polymorphisms of rs12495941, rs182052, and rs16861205 are associated with the severity of OSAS.