Objective: To investigate whether central sleep apnea (CSA) is associated with an increased risk of obesity.
Materials and methods: From 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2015, we screened 24,363 obese patients from the 2005 longitudinal health insurance database, which is part of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. From the same database, 97,452 non-obese patients were also screened out. Age, gender, and index dates were matched. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyze the previous exposure risk of obese and CSA patients. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Obese patients were more likely to be exposed to CSA than non-obese patients would (AOR = 2.234, 95% CI = 1.483-4.380, p < 0.001). In addition, the closeness of the exposure time to the index time is positively correlated with the severity of obesity and has a dose-response effect (CSA exposure < 1 year, AOR = 2.386; CSA exposure ≥ 1 year and <5 years, AOR = 1.725; CSA exposure time ≥ 5 years, AOR = 1.422). The CSA exposure time of obese patients was 1.693 times that of non-obese patients. Longer exposure time is associated with more severe obesity and has a dose-response effect (CSA exposure < 1 year, AOR = 1.420; CSA exposure ≥ 1 year and <5 years, AOR = 2.240; CSA ≥ 5 years, AOR = 2.863).
Conclusions: In this case-control study, patients with CSA had a significantly increased risk of obesity. Long-term exposure to CSA and obesity is more likely and has a dose-response effect.
Keywords: National Health Insurance Research Database; case-control study; central sleep apnea; obesity.