Year: 2021
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Objective To investigate if obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is an independent risk factor for severe COVID-19. To examine whether the risk for contracting COVID-19 is elevated among OSA patients. Design and setting Registry based retrospective case-control study using Finnish nationwide health registries and the FinnGen Study cohort. Participants Information regarding OSA diagnosis and COVID-19 infection was extracted from the FinnGen study (N=260,405) with a total of 305 patients who had a recorded PCR-validated COVID-19 infection including 26 (8.5%) individuals who were also OSA patients. Severe COVID-19 (N=83; 27.2%) was defined as an infection requiring hospitalization. Among the hospitalized individuals there were 16 (19.3%) with OSA diagnosis. In addition, we also included in our analysis previously reported risk factors for both severe COVID-19 or risk factors and comorbidities for OSA from FinnGen. Main outcome measures OSA diagnosis, information concerning COVID-19 infection such as hospitalization, were derived from Finnish National Hospital Discharge Registry, Causes of Death Registry and the National Infectious Diseases Registry. Results We show that OSA is a risk factor for COVID-19 hospitalization independent from age, sex, body mass index (BMI), hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease (CHD), asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), (p-unadjusted=1.04×10 −4 , OR-adjusted=5.24 [95%CI 1.33 to 23.43], p-adjusted=0.022). OSA was not associated with the risk of contracting COVID-19 (p=0.49). Conclusion While an OSA patient’s risk of contracting COVID-19 is the same as non-OSA individuals, the OSA patients have a five-fold risk to be hospitalized when affected by COVID-19 than non-OSA individuals. Our findings suggest that, in assessment of patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection, OSA needs to be recognized as one of the comorbidity risk factors for developing a severe form of the disease.
Source: BMJ Open Respiratory Research
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology (medical)
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,523
Funders: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Biogen, Celgene, AbbVie, Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, Helsingin Yliopisto, Yrjö Jahnssonin Säätiö, Maze Therapeutics, Academy of Finland, Juho Vainion Säätiö, Signe ja Ane Gyllenbergin Säätiö, Sydäntutkimussäätiö, Instrumentariumin Tiedesäätiö, Business Finland, Genentech, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, Helsingin Yliopisto, Janssen Biotech
OpenAlex ID: W3120364357