Quality of Life in Korean Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disease, but there are few studies about the quality of life (QOL) of Korean patients with OSA. The aims of the present study were compare the QOL of patients with OSA and healthy controls, and to determine the factors that influence the QOL in these patients. METHODS: This was a casecontrol study comparing the QOL of 136 OSA patients and 126 healthy controls. For all of the subjects, QOL and the severity of subjective symptoms were evaluated using various questionnaires, including the Korean versions of the Medical Outcome Study Short Form-36 (SF-36), the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI-K), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (KESS), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), the Beck Depression Inventory (KBDI)-2, and the Hospital Anxiety Scale (HAS). RESULTS: The QOL was worse in patients with OSA than in the controls, but there was no association between the severity of OSA and the degree of worsening of QOL. Multiple stepwise regression analysis revealed that the strongest associations were found between QOL and HAS, ISI and BDI-2 scoring in OSA patients. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that OSA represents a considerable burden on the QOL of Koreans, and suggest that the impairment in QOL of Koreans with OSA is related to the degree of anxiety, insomnia and depression that they suffer.