Prevalence of self-reported clinically diagnosed sleep apnea according to obesity status in men and women: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005–2006

ObjectiveTo estimate the prevalence of self-reported clinically diagnosed sleep apnea (diagnosed sleep apnea) according to body mass index (BMI, measure of total obesity) and waist circumference (measure of abdominal obesity) in US adults.MethodsData from a representative sample of 4309 US adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 2005–2006 were analyzed. Log-linear regression analyses with a robust variance estimator were performed to estimate the prevalence ratios (PR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).ResultsThe overall crude and age-adjusted prevalence estimates of diagnosed sleep apnea were 4.7% (95% CI = 4.0%–5.5%) and 4.5% (95% CI = 3.9%–5.2%) in adults. Age-adjusted prevalence in men (6.1%, 95% CI = 5.0%–7.3%) was higher than that in women (3.1%, 95% CI = 2.1%–4.0%; P < 0.01). Age-adjusted prevalence was higher for persons with total obesity (i.e., BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) (12.1% vs. 3.0% in men, P < 0.01; 7.0% vs. 0.7% in women, P < 0.01) or abdominal obesity (10.9% vs. 1.9% in men, P < 0.01; 4.6% vs. 0.6% in women, P < 0.01) than that for those without total obesity (BMI < 30 kg/m2) or without abdominal obesity.ConclusionsThese results from a nationally representative sample suggest that diagnosed sleep apnea is highly prevalent among adults with obesity in the general population, especially among men.