West Indian Med J DOI: 10.7727/wimj.2016.225 The Relation of Polysomnographic Parameters to Carotid and Brachial Artery Intima- media Thickness in Patients with Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome S Asker 1 , M Asker 2 , M Ozgokce 3 , H O Küçük 4 , U Küçük 5 , A Arisoy 1 ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate carotid (C) and brachial (BA) artery intima-media thickness (IMT) in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) along with factors predicting CIMT and BA-IMT increase. Method: A total of 81 patients with severe OSAS (Mean (SD) age: 48.0(10.5) years, 70.4% were males) and 49 healthy controls (Mean (SD) age: 47.9(9.7) years, 73.5% were males) were included. Data on demographics, cardiovascular risk factors and CIMT and BIMT values were evaluated in each subject along with factors predicting CIMT and BIMT increase in the patient group. Result: Mean (SD) left and right CIMT and BIMT were significantly higher in OSAS than control group (p<0.001 for each). There was no significant association of polysomnographic parameters with CIMT. Average apnea duration was associated with increase in right and left BA-IMT (B=0.011, p=0.011 for the right and B=0.011, p=0.002 for the left). A significant negative association was noted between average oxygen saturation and left BA-IMT (B=- 0.012, p=0.005). Conclusion: Our findings revealed significant increase in of CIMT and BA-IMT in patients with severe OSAS compared to controls. None of the polysomnographic parameters, but age and smoking, was determinants of increased CIMT, while apnea duration and arousal index were significant predictors of BA-IMT. Keywords: Brachial artery, cardiovascular risk factors, carotid artery, intima-media thickness, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, polysomnography. From: 1 Department of Chest Diseases, Yuzuncu Yil University Faculty of Medicine, Van, Turkey, 2 Department of Cardiology, Van Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital,