Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Increased prevalence of obstructive lung disease in patients with obstructive sleep apnea

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Sleep and Breathing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Study purposes

This study aims to determine whether there is an increased prevalence of obstructive lung diseases (OLDs) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We also determined whether among the OLD patients there is a difference in the prevalences of specific chronic disease co-morbidities between patients with and without OSA.

Methods

The prevalences of COPD, asthma, and COPD combined with asthma (ICD-9 coding) were compared between 1,497 adult OSA patients and 1,489 control patients, who were matched for age, gender, geographic location, and primary care physician. The prevalences of specific co-morbidities were measured in the OLD groups between patients with OSA and the matched control group.

Results

COPD, asthma, and COPD combined with asthma were found to be more prevalent among OSA patients compared to the matched controls. Prevalences among patients with and without OSA, respectively, were COPD—7.6 and 3.7 % (P < 0.0001), asthma—10.4 and 5.1 % (P < 0.0001), COPD plus asthma—3.3 and 0.9 % (P < 0.0001). The Charlson Comorbidity Index was greater for OSA patients (2.3 ± 0.2) than for controls (1.9 ± 1.8; P < 0.0001). These trends held for all severity ranges of OSA. Patients with OSA and COPD were characterized by more severe hypoxia at night compared with the OSA patients without OLD.

Conclusion

OSA was associated with an increased prevalence of OLDs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Young T, Palta M, Dempsey J, Skatrud J, Weber S, Badr S (1993) The occurrence of sleep-disordered breathing among middle-aged adults. N Engl J Med 17:1230–1235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Lavie L (2003) Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome—an oxidative stress disorder. Sleep Med Rev 7:35–51

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Bramen SS (2010) Growing old with asthma: what are the changes and challenges? Expert Rev Respir Med 2:239–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Carratu P, Resta O (2008) Is obstructive sleep apnoea a comorbidity of COPD and is it involved in chronic systemic inflammatory syndrome? Eur Respir J 6:1381–1382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hiestand D, Phillips B (2008) The overlap syndrome: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea. Crit Care Clin 3:551–563

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Weitzenblum E, Chaouat A, Kessler R, Canuet M (2008) Overlap syndrome: obstructive sleep apnea in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Proc Am Thorac Soc 2:237–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Krishnan V (2009) The economic burden of medical care in general and sleep apnea syndrome in particular. Sleep Breath 13(4):315–316

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Gan WQ, Man SF, Senthilselvan A, Sin DD (2004) Association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and systemic inflammation: a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Thorax 59:574–580

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Finkelstein J, Cha E, Scharf SM (2009) Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity. Int J COPD 337–349

  10. Greenberg-Dotan S, Reuveni H, Simon-Tuval T, Oksenberg A, Tarasiuk A (2007) Gender differences in morbidity and health care utilization among adult obstructive sleep apnea patients. Sleep 9:1173–1180

    Google Scholar 

  11. Reuveni H, Greenberg-Dotan S, Simon-Tuval T, Oksenberg A, Tarasiuk A (2008) Elevated healthcare utilisation in young adult males with obstructive sleep apnoea. Eur Respir J 2:273–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Tarasiuk A, Greenberg-Dotan S, Simon-Tuval T, Freidman B, Goldbart AD, Tal A, Reuveni H (2007) Elevated morbidity and health care use in children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1:55–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Oksenberg A, Khamaysi I, Silverberg SD, Tarasiuk A (2000) The association of body position with the severity of apnea events in severe non-positional obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. Chest 118:1018–1024

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Tarasiuk A, Greenberg-Dotan S, Simon T, Tal A, Oksenberg A, Reuveni H (2006) Low socioeconomic status is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease among adult OSAS patients requiring treatment. Chest 130:766–773

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Deyo RA, Cherkin DC, Ciol MA (1992) Adapting a clinical comorbidity index for use with ICD-9-CM administrative databases. J Clin Epidemiol 45:613–619

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Lin PJ, Shaya FT, Scharf SM (2010) Economic implications of comorbid conditions among medicaid beneficiaries with COPD. Respir Med 5:697–704

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Guilleminault C, Cummiskey J, Motta J (1980) Chronic obstructive airflow disease and sleep studies. Am Rev Respir Dis 3:397–406

    Google Scholar 

  18. Shaya FT, Lin PJ, Aljawadi MH, Scharf SM (2009) Elevated economic burden in obstructive lung disease patients with concomitant sleep apnea syndrome. Sleep Breath 4:317–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Sanders MH, Newman AB, Haggerty CL, Redline S, Lebowitz M, Samet J, O'Connor GT, Punjabi NM, Shahar E (2003) Sleep Heart Health Study. Sleep and sleep-disordered breathing in adults with predominantly mild obstructive airway disease. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1:7–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Alkhalil M, Schulman E, Getsy J (2009) Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and asthma: what are the links? J Clin Sleep Med 1:71–78

    Google Scholar 

  21. Smith R, Ronald J, Delaive K, Walld R, Manfreda J, Kryger MH (2002) What are obstructive sleep apnea patients being treated for prior to this diagnosis? Chest 1:164–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. King DA, Cordova F, Scharf SM (2008) Nutritional aspects of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Proc Am Thorac Soc 4:519–523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Lugogo NL, Kraft M, Dixon AE (2010) Does obesity produce a distinct asthma phenotype? J Appl Physiol 3:729–734

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Franssen FM, O'Donnell DE, Goossens GH, Blaak EE, Schols AM (2008) Obesity and the lung: 5. Obesity and COPD. Thorax 12:1110–1117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Vgontzas AN (2008) Does obesity play a major role in the pathogenesis of sleep apnoea and its associated manifestations via inflammation, visceral adiposity, and insulin resistance? Arch Physiol Biochem 4:211–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. McNicholas WT (2009) Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea: overlaps in pathophysiology, systemic inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 8:692–700

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Wetter DW, Young TB, Bidwell TR, Badr MS, Palta M (1994) Smoking as a risk factor for sleep-disordered breathing. Arch Intern Med 19:2219–2224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Punjabi NM (2009) Workshop participants. Do sleep disorders and associated treatments impact glucose metabolism? Drugs 2:13–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Harris M, Glozier N, Ratnavadivel R, Grunstein RR (2009) Obstructive sleep apnea and depression. Sleep Med Rev 6:437–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Coventry PA (2009) Does pulmonary rehabilitation reduce anxiety and depression in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease? Curr Opin Pulm Med 2:143–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sleep–Wake Disorders Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

    Sari Greenberg-Dotan, Haim Reuveni, Asher Tal & Ariel Tarasiuk

  2. Sleep Disorders Unit, Loewenstein Hospital Rehabilitation Center, Raanana, Israel

    Arie Oksenberg

  3. Chief Physician’s office, Headquarters of Clalit Health Services, P.O.B 16250, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Sari Greenberg-Dotan & Arnon Cohen

  4. Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Fadia T. Shaya

  5. Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Maryland Sleep Disorders Center, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Steven M. Scharf

Authors
  1. Sari Greenberg-Dotan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Haim Reuveni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Asher Tal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Arie Oksenberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Arnon Cohen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Fadia T. Shaya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Ariel Tarasiuk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Steven M. Scharf
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sari Greenberg-Dotan.

Additional information

This work was supported by a Competitive Grant from the Israeli Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research, award no. B/17/2000. This was performed in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Maryland Sleep Disorders Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Greenberg-Dotan, S., Reuveni, H., Tal, A. et al. Increased prevalence of obstructive lung disease in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep Breath 18, 69–75 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-013-0850-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-013-0850-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation