Socioeconomic factors do not predict sleep apnea in a population sample from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany

Abstract

Purpose Socioeconomic factors are known to modulate health. Concerning sleep apnea, influences of income, education, work, and living in a partnership are established. However, results differ between national and ethnic groups. Results also differ between various clinical studies and population-based approaches. The goal of our study was to determine if such factors can be verified in the population of Pomerania, Germany. Methods A subgroup from the participants of the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania volunteered for an overnight polysomnography. Their data were subjected to an ordinal regressions analysis with age, sex, body mass index (BMI), income, education, work, and life partner as predictors for the apnea–hypopnea index. Results Among the subgroup (N = 1209) from the population-based study (N = 4420), significant effects were found for age, sex, and BMI. There were no significant effects for any of the socioeconomic factors. Conclusion Significant effects for well-established factors as age, sex, and BMI show that our study design has sufficient power to verify meaningful associations with sleep apnea. The lack of significant effects for the socioeconomic factors suggests their clinical irrelevance in the tested population.

Quality of life in patients with obstructive sleep apnea: Results from the study of health in Pomerania

“…Previous analyses of the same sample indicated systematic differences between the participants who selected the optional PSG and those who did not (Fietze et al, 2018; Krüger et al, 2022; Stubbe, 2016). These differences among other factors concerned the consumption of nicotine and alcohol, as well as the relevant predictors sex, age, and BMI.…”

“…All results are presented in Table 2. Detailed information about the procedure for the analysis can be found elsewhere (Krüger et al, 2022).…”

“…Previous analyses of the same sample indicated systematic differences between the participants who selected the optional PSG and those who did not (Fietze et al, 2018;Krüger et al, 2022;Stubbe, 2016).…”

Menopause Is Associated with Obstructive Sleep Apnea in a Population-Based Sample from Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, Germany

“…Participants might have declined due to time constraints that are systematically inherent to subsamples (e.g., working persons or persons involved in childcare might be less likely to find the time for an overnight PSG) [ 42 ]. Furthermore, we assume that persons are more likely to participate when they are unsatisfied with their sleep (e.g., in our sample, persons aware of their snoring are more likely to choose the PSG [ 32 ]).…”

“…Only females were included in the ordinal regression analysis. Descriptive data of the whole PSG sample and possible biases are readily available elsewhere [ 21 , 24 , 32 , 33 ].…”