Research Article Journal of Sleep Disorders & Therapy J o u r n a l o f S l e e p D i s o r d e r s & T h e r a p y ISSN: 2167-0277 OPEN ACCESS Freely available online J Sleep Disord Ther, Vol.9 Iss.7 No:324 1 ABSTRACT Background: Obesity and regional fat distribution are among the strongest risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in the general population. People living with HIV (PLHIV) may be at increased risk of OSA because of their distinct body fat composition. This study examined the association of body fat composition with the risk of OSA in PLHIV. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional prospective study at a tertiary HIV care unit, recruiting 400 PLHIV [female: 317, 79.2%; median age of 44 years; median year of HIV duration of 5 years]. Participants were surveyed using standardized instruments to assess the risk of OSA, sleep duration and, sleepiness. Body fat composition was evaluated with anthropometric measurements and bioelectric impedance Results: Sixty-three of the participants (15.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 12.4%–19.8%) had risk of OSA, while 24 (6.0%) of them had risk of OSA and excessive day time sleepiness and 30 (7.5%) had risk of OSA with concomitant short sleep duration. BMI and markers of central obesity were significantly associated with risk of OSA in females but not in males. Waist circumference, Waist to hip ratio, Visceral fat level performed similarly in predicting the risk of OSA in females with Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.668, 95% CI (0.613, 0.719); 0.704, 95% CI (0.651, 0.754); 0.663, 95% CI (0.608, 0.715) respectively, with VFL having the best accuracy. Conclusions: The risk of OSA among PLHIV was associated with measures of visceral adiposity in females and not in males. Keywords: Body fat percentage; Visceral fat; Sleep duration; Sleepiness; Obstructive sleep apnea; HIV/AIDS Gender-Specific Association of Body Fat Composition with Risk of Obstructive Sleep Apnea among People Living with Hiv/Aids: A Cross- Sectional Study Olayemi Fehintola Awopeju 1 *, Olumayowa Abimbola Oninla 2 , Abiona Oluwadamilola Odeyemi 3 , Akintunde Adeolu Adebowale 4 , Francis Olubanji Awoniyi 1 , Jerry Simbarashe Zifodya 5 , Gregory Efosa Erhabor 1 1 Respiratory unit, Department of Medicine, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria; 2 Department of Dermatology and Genitourinary medicine, Department of Medicine, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria; 3 Respiratory unit, Department of Medicine, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria; 4 Neurologic unit, Department of Medicine, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria; 5 Section of Pulmonary Disease, Critical Care and Environmental Medicine, John .W. Deming Department of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, USA * Correspondence to: Olayemi Fehintola Awopeju, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, ObafemiAwolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria 220005, Tel: +234 8035825149; E-mail: yemijide@yahoo.com Received: September 30, 2020; Accepted: November 16, 2020; Published: November 23, 2020 Citation: Awopeju OF, Oninla OA, Odeyemi AO, Adebowale AA, Awoniyi FO, Zifodya JS, et al. (2020) Gender-Specific Association of Body Fat Composition with Risk of Obstructive Sleep Apnea among People Living With HIV/AIDS: A Cross-Sectional Study. J Sleep Disord Ther 9:324. doi: 10.35248/2167-0277.20.9.324. Copyright: ©2020 Awopeju OF, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. INTRODUCTION Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a markedly prevalent sleep disorder globally. It spans across age groups and gender [1], and is associated with long-term cardiovascular, metabolic and neurocognitive health consequences [2,3]. Aside from these, the public health and economic consequences of undiagnosed and untreated OSA are enormous [4,5]. The risk of OSA has been extensively reported among older adults [6], persons with hypertension [7], and diabetes mellitus [8], as well as in other population [9,10,11]. However, data are sparse on the risk of OSA among people living with HIV (PLHIV) [12,13]. PLHIV may have an increased risk of OSA. Abnormal body fat deposition and increased weight gain from antiretroviral medications may increase their risk [13,14]. Inflammation related