Serum Neopterin Levels in Obese and Non- obese Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome

Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is one of the most common sleep breathing disorder characterized by nocturnal oxygen desaturation and repeated upper airway obstruction episodes during sleep. Neopterin (NP), as an immune modulator, is secreted by macrophages activated by T-lymphocytes. In the light of literature, higher serum NP levels are reported to be encountered in obese subjects. While this marker was used in obese OSAS subjects, no data related to this marker to be used in non-obese OSAS subjects could be encountered in previous studies. In this study, it was aimed to compare serum NP levels in non-obese with obese OSAS subjects. Methods: Twenty non-obese OSAS, 15 obese OSAS were enrolled into this study. Diagnostic polysomnography (PSG) was performed in all patients during all night sleep. Sleep stages and respiratory events were manually scored. Serum NP levels of obese OSAS subjects were compared with non-obese OSAS subjects . Results: Serum neopterin levels were 5.25±0.43 ng/ml in obese and 5.17±0.52 ng/ml in non-obese OSAS patients (p > 0.05). Conclusion: In this study, no significant difference was found in terms of NP levels between non-obese and obese OSAS patients.