Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Background The conjunction of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is known as overlap syndrome (OS). The coexistence of these diseases has cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of OSA in COPD patients. One hundred COPD patients (obese and non-obese) performed sleep questionnaires and polysomnograms. Results OSA prevalence in COPD was 50% and it increases with increasing disease severity (P < 0.001). The highest prevalence of OSA was found in obese patients with severe COPD; 90.5% of these patients have OSA. In the OSA group, obese patients were found to have significantly higher STOP-Bang Questionnaire (SBQ), Epworth Sleep Scale (ESS), modified medical research council (mMRC) dyspnea scale, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), respiratory disturbance index (RDI), and oxygen desaturation index (ODI). Both obese and non-obese COPD patients showed significant positive correlations between AHI and smoking index (SI), SBQ, ESS, mMRC, ODI, and neck circumference (NC). Conclusions From this study, it can be concluded that moderate and severe COPD patients had a higher diagnosis of sleep-disordered breathing. Also, obese-COPD patients are more susceptible to develop OSA. Trial registration Name of the registry: Benha University Protocol Record Benha U123, Obstructive Sleep Apnea Prevalence in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases. Trial registration number: NCT04903639. Date of registry: 5/22/2021 (retrospective study).