79 CENTRAL SLEEP APNEA IN ACROM EGALY VERSUS OBESITY D. Niculescu* ,1,2 , Ileana Botusan 1,2 , Carmen Rasanu 1,2 , S. Radian 1,2 , Oana Filip 2 , M . Coculescu 1,2 1 Endocrinology Department, “ Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania 2 “ C. I. Parhon” Institute of Endocrinology, Bucharest, Romania INTRODUCTION: Sleep apnea syndrome is a common manifestation of acromegaly. A lthough the obstructive type of apnea was thought to be predominant there are some reports suggesting that central apneic episodes show a high rate and are related to abnormalities of central respiratory control. A IM : The present study determines the presence and severity of central sleep apnea syndrome in patients with acromegaly compared with obese subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 35 consecutive acromegalic patients (min GH (growth hormone) during oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) 6.6 ng/ml) and 19 obese subjects (BMI=44 kg/m 2 ) were polisomnographically recorded between 10 p.m and 6 a.m. Sleep and respiratory disturbances were manually staged according to standard criteria. RESUL TS: The prevalence of sleep apnea syndrome in acromegaly group was 45.7% (16 out of 35 patients). The median of minimum GH level during OGTT was 8.3 ng/ml in apnea group and 5.16 ng/ml in nonapneic group (p>0.05). In acromegaly group with severe sleep apnea syndrome central apnea rate was greater than 10% in 6 out of 7 subjects with REM sleep and in 7 out of 10 with NREM sleep whereas in obesity group this percent was present in 6 out of 18 (REM sleep), respectively 7 out of 19 (NREM sleep). CONCLUSIONS: The study confirms the high prevalence of sleep apnea in acromegaly. GH serum level is not an indicator for the presence and severity of sleep apnea. Although the total time of central apnea per hour of sleep did not differ between the two groups, the percent (rate) of central apnea was significantly greater in acromegaly group. K ey words : acromegaly; obesity; sleep; apnea; respiration. INTRODUCTION Central sleep apnea (CSA ) is a well-individualized subtype of sleep apnea episode characterized by concomitant loss of thoraco-abdominal respiratory effort Endocrine Care * Correspondence to: Dan Niculescu, MD, Endocrinology Department, “ Carol Davila” University of M edi ci ne and Pharmacy, 36 Bdul Aviatorilor, 011863, Bucharest, Romania, e-mail: danniculescu@yahoo.com Acta Endocrinologica (Buc), vol. I, no. 1, p. 76-85, 2005