Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a highly widespread sleep-related breathing disorder that leads to serious impairment in quality of life (QOL).

We aimed to assess QOL in patients with OSAS and to investigate its relationship with illness representations.

We performed an analytical cross-sectional study of 87 recently diagnosed OSAS patients. Apnea hypopnea index (AHI) was determined by an overnight polysomnography. Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) was assessed by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). QOL was assessed by the 36-item short form health survey (SF-36). Illness representations were measured by the Brief Illness Perceptions Questionnaire (B-IPQ); High scores reveal a more threatening perception of the illness.

Mean age of the participants was 55.7 years (SD=11.6). According to the AHI, 70,1% of the patients had severe OSAS, and 16.1% had moderate OSAS. The mean score of the SF-36 was 40.2 (SD=18.7). Overall QOL was impaired in 87.7% of the patients. There was a considerable decrease in both mental and physical QOL. EDS was associated with impairment in mental QOL. Illness representations were negatively correlated with overall QOL (r=- 0.45; P<0.01). No relationship was found between QOL and illness severity.

The present study provides evidence that OSAS has serious influence on QOL of patients, which could be mediated by negative illness perception. So it is extremely important to know how OSAS sufferers perceive their illness to better understand their coping behavior and to improve their adherence to treatment and their QOL.