Prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea in Patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Background: Over the last years, increasing attention has been focused on the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Objective: To determine the prevalence of OSA in a group of patients diagnosed with IPF. Materials and Methods: Analytic retrospective study. Data were collected from the medical records of all patients diagnosed with IPF who had polysomnography requested as part of the study protocol in patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILD). Results: 36 patients were studied, 26 of who were male. The mean age was 67.55 ± 6.39 years old. Mean forced vital capacity (FVC) was 2.12 ± 0.76 liters. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 28.78 ± 4.24. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) average was 7.55 ± 5.01 and the mean apnea hypopnea index (AHI) was 12.69 ± 19.40. Of all the patients studied, 17 (47.22%) had OSA with an AHI ≥ 5. Of these, 9 (25%) had AHI ≥ 10. In the group of patients with OSA (n = 17), 9 (52.94%) had mild OSA (AHI between 5 and 15) and 8 (47.05%) moderate to severe OSA (AHI ≥ 15). Conclusions: In our series of 36 patients with IPF we found a prevalence of OSA of 47.22%. We found no correlation between ESS and the BMI with the presence of OSA in these patients, suggesting that these assessments may be less than optimal screening tools for OSA in IPF.