Anil Sontakke

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is prevalent in patients with hypertension (HTN). There is a lack of OSA screening in patients with HTN. Diagnosis and treatment of OSA in patients with HTN may improve blood pressure control and avoid complications of undiagnosed and untreated OSA. Hence, this study was conducted with the aim to screen OSA suspects in high risk groups of patients with hypertension using Stop Bang Questionnaire and Epworth sleepiness Scale (ESS). This was a cross sectional study carried out in OPD and IPD in Department of Respiratory Medicine, Lata Mangeshkar hospital, Hingna after obtaining approval from institutional ethics committee. Total 100 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included after taking informed consent. The patients were screened according to ESS and Stop Bang Questionnaire. Out of 100, 53% of hypertensive patients were overweight / obese with mean BMI of 25.49 ± 5.43 kg/m2. According to Stop bang questionnaire, 56% and 34% of patients had high risk and intermediate risk of OSA respectively with mean score of 4.69 ± 1.68. According to ESS, 61% patients had low probability of OSA, 15% patient on borderline and 24% abnormal patients with mean score of 8.38 ± 4.688. BMI along with stop bang score showed high probability of OSA which was statistically significant. Screening with Stop bang questionnaire and ESS is helpful for diagnosing OSA in case of strong clinical suspicion with high BMI. This will avoid complications of undiagnosed OSA in patients with hypertension. Keywords: Obstructive sleep apnoea, Stop Bang Questionnaire, Systemic hypertension.

To evaluate serum uric acid level and correlate with the classification of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) severity based on post-bronchodilator FEV1 as per Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines. It is an institution based cross-sectional study in which 100 patients were included. Patients were screened for COPD. Clinical profile and oxygen saturation were included. Patients were classified according to GOLD guidelines. We found that serum uric acid level was at higher side in patients of severe and very severe stages of COPD compared to mild and moderate stages. Inverse relationship found between FEV1 and serum uric acid level. We concluded that uric acid is a widely available, easy to interpret, low cost biomarker, suggests the possible role in the identification of COPD patients of increased risk for adverse outcomes that may need early intensive management. Keywords: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, GOLD guidelines, Spirometry, Serum uric acid.