effect of smoking on parameters of polysomnography

background and objective : obstructive sleep apnea (osa) syndrome is a kind of sleep-related disorder with complex features and may lead to daytime sleepiness. this study aimed to find the differences between smokers and non-smokers regarding the parameters of polysomnography. materials and methods : this was a cross-sectional study conducted on consecutive patients referred to a sleep lab to perform polysomnography for sleep-related breathing disorders in shahid sadoughi university of medical sciences in 2014. for all participants, overnight polysomnography study was performed for at least 6 hours. then, parameters of polysomnography were compared between smokers and non-smokers. data were analyzed by spss using chi-square test, student’s t-test, mann–whitney u-test, and logistic regression analysis. results : in total, 228 subjects were enrolled in the study (155 non-smokers). obstructive apnea number and index,total apnea number, apnea-hypopnea index (ahi), baseline and average saturation by pulse oximeter, snore, and snore arousal were significantly different between smokers and non-smokers (p < 0.050). severe osa was the most commonly observed among smokers, but ahi was not significantly correlated with pack-years of smoking. conclusion : the results of this study showed that smokers suffer from severe osa more frequent than nonsmokers; obstructive apnea is more common among smokers with higher ahi.