Craniofacial Morphology of Croatian Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Currently, there is no information available regarding craniofacial morphology of Croatian patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The aim of the study was to determine the craniofacial characteristics of patients with OSA and to assess the association of cephalometric and anthropometric variables related to craniofacial morphology with the apnea hypopnea index (AHI). Anthropometric measurements and upright lateral cephalometric radiographs were obtained from 20 male patients with OSA and 20 male controls. The 20 OSA patients were classified into two groups on the basis of body mass index (BMI) as obese and non-obese. Twenty three variables were identified and calculated for each cephalometric radiograph. OSA was defined as AHI ³ 5/hour. The OSA patients showed greater body mass index (BMI), neck circumference (NC) and cranial index (CI) and lower facial index (FI) compared to the controls (p