Volume 26, Issue 130, December 2022

A population-based survey of the association between systemic hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea among the general population in Saudi Arabia

Abdullah I Aedh¹, Rahaf Abdullah M Assiri², Shatha Saad A Alshahrani², Sarah Yahya A Mushari², Aljohrah Mohammed A Al-Hunaif², Razan Ali S Alshehri², Abdullah M Assiri³

¹Associate professor of medicine, Najran University, KSA
²Medical students at King Khalid University, KSA
³Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Najran University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder that is considered one of the secondary causes of hypertension. Hypertension affects approximately 50 % of people with OSA. Aim: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between systemic hypertension and OSA in Saudi Arabia's general population. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted. Participants who had been diagnosed with hypertension aged 18 years or more and living in Saudi Arabia were included. An electronic questionnaire was used for data collection. Results: We retrieved 509 responses from participants whose ages ranged from 18 to more than 44 years, with a mean age of 37.9 ± 11.2 years old. OSA was diagnosed among 269 (53.7%) of the study patients. 59.6% of male patients had OSA compared to 49.1% of female patients, with a statistically significant difference (P=.019). 64.2% of hypertensive patients with a secondary level of education complained of OSA compared to 44.7% of others with a lower level of education (P=0.001). A total of 67.5% of the study patients complained of snoring during sleep which was significantly higher among patients with OSA (79.6%) than those without (53.4%); (P=.001). Complaints of headache most of the time were significantly higher among patients with OSA than others without (84.4% vs. 69.8%, respectively; P=.001). Conclusion: According to the current study, there was a significant prevalence of OSA among hypertensive patients (more than half of the patients), particularly among men, patients with high body mass indexes, smokers and patients with a history of the condition in their families.

Keywords: Obstructive sleep apnea, hypertension, relations, prevalence, Saudi Arabia

Medical Science, 2022, 26, ms506e2489

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v26i130/ms506e2489

Published: 02 December 2022