Novel clinical screening method to identify patients at risk of obstructive sleep apnea.

Objective: To investigate whether the distance between the two retromolar trigones (RMTs) with the distance between the two posterior plicas (PPs) affects obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and to determine a physical examination method that can be used in the selection of patients to be referred to polysomnography (PSG).Methods: The study included 86 OSAS patients and 29 healthy controls. RMTs and PPs were measured using a caliper-like device. The values obtained from these measurements were evaluated in both groups.Results: The PPs were narrower, and the RMTs-PPs, RMTs-PPs/RMTs, and RMTs/PPs values were greater in the OSAS group (p < .05) compared to the control group. The cut-off values were 0.612 for RMTs-PPs/RMTs and 2.589 for RMTs/PPs. The specificity of these values for OSAS was 97%, and sensitivity was 57% and 58%, respectively.Conclusion: The presented method may play a role in preventing unnecessary PSG among patients with suspected OSAS.