Association of coronary artery calcification with obstructive sleep apnea and obesity in middle-aged men

Background and aims: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and obesity are closely associated, and both have been reported to increase the risk of coronary heart disease. Although obesity is known to be associated with coronary artery calcification (CAC), there is limited information on whether OSA is associated with CAC independent of obesity.

Methods and results: A cross-sectional study examined the association between OSA and CAC among 258 healthy men, ages 40-49 years old, randomly selected from a population-based cohort. All individuals underwent overnight polysomnography and electron-beam computed tomography to measure their apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and degree of CAC. A logistic regression model including potential cardiovascular risk factors excluding body mass index (BMI) showed that the presence of CAC was significantly greater in the fourth quartile versus the first quartile of AHI severity (odds ratio [OR] 2.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-4.86). A multivariate linear regression model excluding BMI also showed that AHI was significantly associated with CAC (P = 0.004). However, this association was no longer significant after adjusting for BMI.

Conclusions: In our cross-sectional study, even though both OSA and obesity were positively associated with the presence and extent of CAC, only obesity remained a significant independent contributor after an adjustment for potential cardiovascular risk factors, irrespective of OSA.