the association between stop-bang and mallampati scores in commercial drivers referred for health license

Background and objective: obstructive sleep apnea (osa) is considered a common sleep disorder that increases the risk of traffic accidents among drivers. this study aimed to assess the association between mallampati score and stop-bang (snoring, tiredness, observed apnea, blood pressure, body mass index, age, neck circumference, gender) score in commercial drivers. materials and methods: 1743 male drivers referred for their health license were recruited in this cross-sectional study during september 2013 to december 2015 in baharloo hospital, tehran, iran. the persian version of the stop-bang questionnaire was used. sto symptoms were self-reported by drivers. age, height (m), weight (kg), blood pressure (mmhg), neck circumference (cm), and mallampati score were recorded by physician. sto and p-bang scores were computed for all the participants. data were analyzed using anova test for comparing means among different classes of mallampati score. results: among 1743 participated drivers, mean (sd) age was 41 (10.6) years. stop-bang score was < 3 in 90.0% of them. mallampati class ii was the most frequent (36.0%) following by i, iii, and iv, respectively. sto score was more likely to be higher in classes iii and iv with no significant association. p-bang score had significant linear correlation with mallampati score (df: 3, f: 34, p < 0.001). stop-bang score was associated with higher mallampati score (df: 3, f: 31, p < 0.001). conclusion: stop-bang and p-bang scores were significantly associated with mallampati score. mallampati score may be used as a screening parameter for osa in commercial drivers along with available tools such as stop-bang and epworth sleepiness scale that is mainly based on self-reports of drivers.