Results: Body mass index, abdominal circumference, blood pressure levels and insulin resistance indexes of OSAS patients and obese controls were very similar. In OSAS patients, adiponectin (p<0.05) and salivary cortisol suppression pos DEX (p<0.05) were lower, while heart rate (p<0.05) and TNF-alpha levels (p<0.05) were higher compared with obese controls. After nCPAP therapy, patients showed a reduction in heart rate (p=0.036) and a higher cortisol suppression after dexamethasone (p=0.001) and there were no differences in insulin resistance (HOMA p=0.139), arterial blood pressure (p=0.183) and adipokines compared with baseline. Cortisol suppression was positively correlated with the improvement of apnea hypopnea index while on nCPAP therapy (r= 0.799, p=0.010).