Screening for the Risk of OSA in Periodontitis Patients. A Pilot Study

Purpose: To determine the possibility of screening for the risk for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in periodontitis patients.
Materials and Methods: Periodontitis patients and non-periodontitis controls were recruited and asked to complete a validated screening questionnaire to calculate individual probabilities (%) of OSA. Also, for both groups, the risk for OSA was classified as low, medium and high.
Results: Seventy periodontitis patients (49% male) and 77 controls (60% male) were included and both had an average age of 54 years. There was no statistically significant difference in the probability of the risk of OSA between periodontitis patients and controls, 38.6% ± 29.7%, and 34.2% ± 23.3%, respectively (p = 0.31). After sub-grouping individuals in “not high risk” (low plus intermediate) and “high OSA risk” categories, we observed statistically significantly more periodontitis patients than controls in the “high risk” category for OSA (21% vs 9%, p = 0.041, OR 2.73 [95% CI = 1.04 – 7.15]).
Conclusion: These findings suggest that screening for OSA among periodontitis patients may help in early recognition of a “high risk” of OSA, but further research is needed.