Pulmonology Advisor: Patients with comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea more often have hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD) and have a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality compared with individuals without insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a study in the European Respiratory Journal suggests.
The study included 5236 participants pooled from population-based studies. All participants underwent a home-based polysomnography recording between 1995 and 1998. Additionally, participants completed questionnaires on sleep habits and quality of life.
The investigators defined insomnia as self-reported nocturnal symptoms such as difficulties in falling asleep, maintaining sleep, and/or early morning awakenings from sleep for 16 times per month or more. Sleep apnea was identified as an apnea-hypopnea index at least 15 events/hour of sleep. The researchers evaluated the association between comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea and all-cause mortality (n=1210) over a 15-year follow-up period in multivariable adjusted Cox proportional hazard models. The prevalence of hypertension, CVD, and diabetes mellitus were investigated using logistic regression controlling for age, BMI, and gender
