Sleep disturbances and their impact on socio-professional capacities in patients with obstructive sleep apnea

Abstract

As a prominent problem in the modern society and showing an increasing prevalence, sleep disorders including frequently obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) raises the issue of the multiple health and socio-professional debilitating effect. This study aimed to assess by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire the sleep disturbances and their impact on socio-professional capacities in patients with OSA. We evaluated through the PSQI a group of 144 patients with suspected sleep disorders, whom 22 were diagnosed with OSA by polysomnography. For OSA patients, we analyzed the associated comorbidities and the characteristics of sleep disturbances and their influence on quality of socio-professional life. The main associated comorbidities to our OSA patients were the hypertension (90.90%), the type II diabetes (40.91%) and the metabolic syndrome (31.83%). We found that the most important sleep disturbances that affected the quality of life are the sleep interruptions, the waking up too early, the late falling asleep and snoring. The most significant problems induced by sleep disorders were communication problems and concentration disorders, with more than three times a week for at least 36.36% of patients. The work capacity was affected at least once a month in 77,27% of OSA patients, 40,91% reported at least one episode per week. Based on the results of PSQI and the characteristics of clinical OSA assessment, we can conclude that the patients with OSA present an impaired quality of socio-professional life.