Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea with hidradenitis suppurativa: a matched case-control study

Excerpt

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), affecting up to 20% of adults in the United States, is characterized by nocturnal episodic airway blockage due to pharyngeal muscle collapse that results in frequent nighttime awakenings, often leading to chronic fatigue, pulmonary hypertension, and cognitive impairment. While research to date has shown a possible link between OSA and hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), routine screening for OSA is not recommended due to insufficient evidence [1, 2]. We sought to further explore the association between OSA in HS patients using electronic health record (EHR) data from the All of Us Research Program (AoU), a National Institutes of Health database uniquely representing participants from groups historically underrepresented in biomedical research, a unique advantage for HS specifically given the higher incidence and severity in people of color [3]. …