Affiliations: Department of Surgery, Children's Memorial Hospital,
Northwestern University, Chicago, USA | Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical
Sciences, New Delhi, India | Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Fortis hospital, New
Delhi, India | Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India | Department of Biostatistics, All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India
Note: [] Corresponding author: Randeep Guleria, Professor, Department of
Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi
– 110029, India. Tel.: +91 11 26593676; Fax: +91 11 26862663, +1 91 11
26589732; E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
Abstract: Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is prevalent in 7.5% in
urban Asian Indians. Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma2
(PPARγ2) has been implicated in adipocyte differentiation. Neuropeptide Y
(NPY) is also considered as a candidate gene for excess body fat accumulation.
The association of PPARγ2 (Pro12Ala)} and NPY (Leu7Pro) gene
polymorphisms with OSA has not been studied in Asian Indians. Objective: To study the distribution of PPARγ2 (Pro12Ala) and
NPY (Leu7Pro) polymorphism in Asian Indians with and without OSA. Methods and results: This study was carried out in 252 obese
subjects [(body mass index (BMI > 25 kg/m^{2})]; 142 with
OSA and 110 without OSA. Measurements included anthropometric and biochemical
parameters (fasting blood glucose, lipid profile, various circumferences and
skin-fold thicknesses). PPARγ2 (Pro12Ala) and NPY (Leu7Pro) gene}
polymorphisms were studied in all subjects. The frequency of the variant allele
(Ala12) of PPARγ2 gene was significantly higher in subjects with OSA
(14.4%) when compared with subjects without OSA (5.5%;
χ^{2}= 9.7; p = 0.001). The distribution of the variant
allele (Pro7) of NPY gene was comparable in subjects with OSA (3.5%) and
without OSA (3.6%; χ ^{2} = 0.001, p = 0.94). Conclusion: This study reveals a significantly higher frequency of
PPARγ2 (Ala12) allele in obese Asian Indians with OSA when compared to
obese Asian Indians without OSA.
Keywords: Obstructive sleep apnea, PPAR gamma, neuropeptide Y, gene polymorphism, Asian Indians, obesity
