title: Characterization of primary symptoms leading to Chinese patients presenting at hospital with suspected obstructive sleep apnea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We identified the primary symptoms leading to Chinese patients presenting at hospital with suspected obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and studied the prevalence and characteristics of OSA in confirmed cases.
  
  
  METHODS
  We collected data on 350 consecutive patients (302 males and 43±11 years old) with suspected OSA who underwent overnight polysomnography (PSG).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among all patients, rankings of primary symptoms that led to the patients presenting at hospital for PSG were observed apnea (33%), snoring alone (29%), choking/gasping (13%), daytime sleepiness (5%) and other (20%). For severe OSA, prevalence rate was 61%, apnea hypopnea index (AHI) was 64±18, age was 44±10 years old, body mass index (BMI) was 28±3.5 kg/m(2), and hypertension rate was 28%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-awareness of symptoms led a majority of the patients to present at hospital in China. Compared to currently available case series studies, our results suggest that OSA patients in East Asian countries are characterized by higher prevalence and more severe apnea, younger age, poorer sleep quality, but less obesity and less comorbidity with hypertension, relative to countries in North America, South America and Europe.
authors.affiliation: 1 Sleep Medicine Center, Mental Health Center, Translational Neuroscience Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China ; 2 Pharmaceutical College, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: 1 Sleep Medicine Center, Mental Health Center, Translational Neuroscience Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China ; 2 Pharmaceutical College, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: 1 Sleep Medicine Center, Mental Health Center, Translational Neuroscience Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China ; 2 Pharmaceutical College, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: 1 Sleep Medicine Center, Mental Health Center, Translational Neuroscience Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China ; 2 Pharmaceutical College, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Lili
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: 1 Sleep Medicine Center, Mental Health Center, Translational Neuroscience Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China ; 2 Pharmaceutical College, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: 1 Sleep Medicine Center, Mental Health Center, Translational Neuroscience Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China ; 2 Pharmaceutical College, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Linghui
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: 1 Sleep Medicine Center, Mental Health Center, Translational Neuroscience Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China ; 2 Pharmaceutical College, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: 1 Sleep Medicine Center, Mental Health Center, Translational Neuroscience Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China ; 2 Pharmaceutical College, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin 150040, China.
authors.forename: Xiangdong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
keywords: Apnea; consecutive patients; prevalence; symptoms