• Helmi Ben Saad, Ikram Ben Hassen, Ines Ghannouchi, Imed Latiri, Sonia Rouatbi, Pierre Escourrou, Halima Ben Salem, Mohamed Benzarti, and Ahmed Abdelghani.
• Research Laboratory LR14ES05: Interaction of the Cardiorespiratory System, Faculty of Medicine of Sousse, Sousse, Tunisia; Laboratory of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sousse, Tunisia; Department of Physiology and Functional Explorations, Farhat HACHED Hospital, Sousse, Tunisia. Electronic address: helmi.bensaad@rns.tn.
• Respir Med. 2015 May 1; 109 (5): 642-55.

IntroductionFew studies have evaluated the functional capacity of severe OSAHS.AimsTo assess their functional capacity, identify their 6-min walking-distance (6MWD) influencing factors and compare their data with those of two control-groups.MethodsSixty (42 males) clinically consecutive stable patients with severe OSAHS under CPAP were included. Clinical, Epworth questionnaire, anthropometric, polysomnographic, plethysmographic and 6-min walk-test (6MWT) data were collected. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify the 6MWD influencing factors. Data of a subgroup of severe OSAHS aged ≥40 Yrs (n = 49) were compared with those of non-obese (n = 174) and obese (n = 55) groups.ResultsThe means ± SD of age and apnea-hypopnea-index were, respectively, 49 ± 10 Yr and 62 ± 18/h. The profile of OSAHS patients carrying the 6MWT, was as follows: at the end of the 6MWT, 31% and 25% had, respectively, a high dyspnea (>5/10, visual analogue scale) and a low heart-rate (<60% of-maximal-predicted), 13% had an abnormal 6MWD ( 5 points and 3% stopped the walk. The factors that significantly influenced the 6MWD, explaining 80% of its variability, are included in the following equation: 6MWD (m) = 29.66 × first-second-forced-expiratory-volume (L) - 4.19 × Body-mass-index (kg/m(2)) - 51.89 × arterial-hypertension (0. No; 1. Yes) + 263.53 × Height (m) + 2.63 × average oxy-sat during sleep (%) - 51.06 × Diuretic-use (0. No; 1. Yes) - 20.68 × Dyspnea (NYHA) (0. No; 1. Yes) - 38.09 × Anemia (0. No; 1. Yes) + 5.79 × Resting oxy-sat (%) - 586.25. Compared with non-obese and obese groups, the subgroup of OSAHS has a significantly lower 6MWD [100 ± 9%, 100 ± 8% and 83 ± 12%, respectively).ConclusionSevere OSAHS may play a role in reducing the functional capacity.Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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