Articles

Self-Reported Sleep Disordered Breathing as Risk Factor for Mortality in the Elderly

Tsapanou, Angeliki; Gu, Yian; O'Shea, Deirdre; Manly, Jennifer; Schupf, Nicole; Scarmeas, Nikolaos; Stern, Yaakov

Background/Aims—To examine the association between self-reported sleep disordered breathing (‘awaken short of breath or with a headache’) and mortality in a large and ethnically diverse group of community-dwelling elderly people. Methods—1288 participants, 65 years and older, were examined longitudinally. Sleep problems were estimated using the Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale examining: sleep disturbance, snoring, sleep short of breath or with a headache, sleep adequacy, and sleep somnolence. Cox regression analysis was used to examine the association between sleep problems and mortality. Age, gender, education, ethnicity, and body mass index were included as covariates. In further analyses we included hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke as additional covariates. Results—The participants were followed for up to 6 years (mean 2.9, SD: 1.1), and 239 (18.6%) participants died during the follow-up. In unadjusted models, SDB at the initial visit was associated with mortality HR=1.37; 95% CI 1.21-1.55; p<0.0001. After adjusting for all the covariates, the relationship between SDB and mortality remained significant HR=1.48; 95% CI 1.29-1.70; p<0.0001. Participants with Caribbean-Hispanic ancestry have higher risk for mortality. Conclusion—Our results suggest that SDB is a risk factor for mortality in a large and ethnically diverse group of older adults, independent of demographic and clinical factors. Further research is needed in order to examine the underlying mechanisms of this association.

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Also Published In

Title
Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2016.03.008

More About This Work

Academic Units
Neurology
Published Here
February 11, 2022