title: [Adverse respiratory events after general anesthesia in patients at high risk of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with STOP-BANG score >3 have a high risk of Obstructive sleep apnea. The aim of this study was to evaluate early postoperative respiratory complications in adults with STOP-BANG score >3 after general anesthesia.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a prospective double cohort study matching 59 pairs of adult patients with STOP-BANG score >3 (high risk of obstructive sleep apnea) and patients with STOP-BANG score <3 (low risk of obstructive sleep apnea), similar with respect to gender, age and type of surgery, admitted after elective surgery in the Post-Anaesthesia Care Unit in May 2011. Primary outcome was the development of adverse respiratory events. Demographics data, perioperative variables, and postoperative length of stay in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit and in hospital were recorded. The Mann-Whitney test, the chi-square test and the Fisher exact test were used for comparisons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subjects in both pairs of study subjects had a median age of 56 years, including 25% males, and 59% were submitted to intra-abdominal surgery. High risk of obstructive sleep apnea patients had a higher median body mass index (31 versus 24kg/m(2), p<0.001) and had more frequently co-morbidities, including hypertension (58% versus 24%, p<0.001), dyslipidemia (46% versus 17%, p<0.001) and insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (17% versus 2%, p=0.004). These patients were submitted more frequently to bariatric surgery (20% versus 2%, p=0.002). Patients with high risk of obstructive sleep apnea had more frequently adverse respiratory events (39% versus 10%, p<0.001), mild to moderate desaturation (15% versus 0%, p=0.001) and inability to breathe deeply (34% versus 9%, p=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After general anesthesia high risk of obstructive sleep apnea patients had an increased incidence of postoperative respiratory complications.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anestesiologia, Centro Hospitalar de São João, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xará
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anestesiologia, Centro Hospitalar de São João, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Júlia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anestesiologia, Centro Hospitalar de São João, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Helder
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anestesiologia, Centro Hospitalar de São João, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anestesiologia, Centro Hospitalar de São João, Porto, Portugal; Anestesiologia e Unidade de Tratamento Perioperatório, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; Departamento de Cirurgia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: fernando.abelha@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Fernando José
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Abelha
keywords: Apneia obstrutiva do sono; Desfecho no pós‐operatório; Eventos respiratórios; Obstructive sleep apnea; Postoperative outcome; Respiratory events