ABSTRACT
In general, obese patients with OSA have
larger tongues and smaller upper airways than
normal subjects. In morbidly obese patients,
neck size is a better predictor of sleep apnoea
than other body anthropomorphic measures:15
presumably neck fat deposition promotes
mass loading and obstruction of the upper
airway in sleep, leading to OSA. However, in
a wider weight range of patients with OSA,
waist circumference was a better predictor of
OSA than neck circumference,24 and excess fat
deposition around the airway is not a
universal finding in obese patients with OSA.
