Impact of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy on Obstructive Sleep Apnea Symptoms Based on the STOP-BANG Questionnaire: A Prospective Study

Aim: To evaluate the impact of weight reduction after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) symptoms based on the STOP-BANG questionnaire (SBQ).Methods: This prospective study included patients older than 18 years, with OSA, and who had planned to undergo LSG surgery. A comparison between preoperative and postoperative scores of the SBQ was performed for all patients.Results: The study included 82 obese patients (53 females and 29 males) with a mean age of 30.5 +/- 8.8 years. The SBQ scores of the patients showed significant decrease postoperatively (2.15 +/- 1.32) compared to the preoperative scores (3.78 +/- 1.55). Furthermore, the number of patients who were using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) was significantly reduced from 14 patients preoperatively to only 4 patients postoperatively (p = 0.002). All components of SBQ score showed postoperative improvement, especially (do you snore loudly?), (do you often feel tired, fatigued, or sleepy during daytime?), and (body mass index more than 35?), which showed significant improvements.Conclusions: Weight reduction after LSG resulted in a significant improvement of OSA, as shown by SBQ scores. SBQ is a simple and easy tool to assess the symptoms of OSA and could be used successfully for follow-up of OSA symptoms.