Objective To investigate the correlation between serum level of visfatin and obesity in patients with obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome ( OSAHS) . Methods Forty-seven patients with OSAHS and 20 healthy controls were recruited in this study. Polysomnography was performed in all subjects to detect apnea-hypopnea index ( AHI) . The serumlevels of cisfatin, C-reactive protein ( CRP) , TNF-α, and IL-6 were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The body mass inex ( BMI) was calculated.The level of cisfatin was compared between the OSAHS patients with different severity and the controls, and its relationship with the levels of AHI, BMI, CRP, TNF-α, and IL-6 was analyzed. Results The serumlevel of visfatin in the OSAHS patients was higher significantly than that in the controls ( P lt;0. 01) and increased by the severity of OSAHS. There were positive correlations between the serum level of visfatin and AHI,BMI, CRP, TNF-α, IL-6 in the OSAHS patients ( P lt;0. 05) . Conclusion The expression of visfatin may play an important role in the pathogenesis of OSAHS.
