Prevalence of symptoms and risk of obstructive sleep apnea in Saudi pregnant women

Aljohara S Almeneessier; Mohammed Alangari; Abdulmalik Aldubayan; Abdulrahman Alsharidah; Aamer Altaki; Awad H Olaish; Yasser S Sabr; Ahmed S BaHammam

doi:10.4103/atm.ATM_59_20

Prevalence of symptoms and risk of obstructive sleep apnea in Saudi pregnant women

Ann Thorac Med. 2020 Jul-Sep;15(3):163-170. doi: 10.4103/atm.ATM_59_20. Epub 2020 Jun 18.

Authors

Aljohara S Almeneessier^{1

2}, Mohammed Alangari¹, Abdulmalik Aldubayan¹, Abdulrahman Alsharidah¹, Aamer Altaki¹, Awad H Olaish¹, Yasser S Sabr³, Ahmed S BaHammam^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, The University Sleep Disorders Center, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ The Strategic Technologies Program of the National Plan for Sciences and Technology and Innovation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Background: This case-control study aimed to assess the prevalence of symptoms and risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) among Saudi pregnant women.

Methods: The study included consecutive Saudi pregnant women attending the antenatal service between July 2015 and December 2016. Pregnant women were compared with an age-matched group of nonpregnant women. OSA symptoms and risk were assessed using a validated Arabic version of the Berlin questionnaire (BQ).

Results: The study included 742 pregnant women and 742 age-matched nonpregnant women. At the time of the survey, 8.2% were in the first trimester; 33.4% in the second trimester; and 58.4%in third trimester. Snoring was reported by 14% of pregnant women, and 5% reported breathing pauses during sleep. Based on the BQ stratification for risk of OSA, 19.3% of pregnant women and 16.6% of the control group were at high risk for OSA. A comparison between the high OSA-risk and low OSA-risk pregnant women revealed that the pregnant women in high risk group were older (30.9 ± 5.9 years vs. 29 ± 5.4 years, P = 0.001), had a higher body mass index (BMI) (34.3 ± 5.2 kg/m² vs. 28.7 ± 5.8 kg/m², P < 0.001), and higher parity (1.9 ± 2 vs. 1.5 ± 1.7, P = 0.020). A multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed the following independent variables, BMI (odds ratio [OR] 1.173 [95% confidence interval [CI] 1.129-1.219],P < 0.001), pregnancy-induced hypertension (OR 7.85 [95% CI 1.691-36.447], P = 0.013), and the presence of restless legs syndrome (OR 2.209 [95% CI 1.332-3.279],P < 0.001).

Conclusions: OSA symptoms and risk were relatively common among Saudi pregnant women. Increasing the awareness among physicians about this association is essential to improve early detection of the disorder.

Keywords: Antenatal care; Berlin questionnaire; gestation; parity; pregnancy-induced hypertension; restless legs syndrome.