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Multimorbidity and overall comorbidity of sleep apnoea. A Finnish nationwide study

  1. Marja Palomäki1,2⇑,
  2. Tarja Saaresranta2,3,
  3. Ulla Anttalainen2,3,
  4. Markku Partinen4,5,
  5. Jaana Keto6 and
  6. Miika Linna7,8
  1. 1Central Hospital for Central Ostrobothnia, Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Kokkola, Finland
  2. 2Sleep Research Centre, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
  3. 3Sleep and Breathing Centre and Division of Medicine, Department of Pulmonary Diseases, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
  4. 4Helsinki Sleep Clinic, Terveystalo Healthcare, Helsinki, Finland
  5. 5Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Clinicum, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
  6. 6Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Helsinki, Finland
  7. 7Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland
  8. 8University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
  1. Corresponding author: Marja Palomäki (marja.k.palomaki{at}utu.fi)<PE: Please check the corresponding author and email extracted from the metadata. We need to retain the doc file version. Please cross-check and make changes.>

Abstract

The prevalence of sleep apnoea is increasing globally; however, population-based studies have reported a wide variation of prevalence estimates, and data on incidence of clinically diagnosed sleep apnoea are scant. Data on the overall burden of comorbidities or multimorbidity in individuals with incident sleep apnoea are scarce, and the pathways to multimorbidity have only marginally been studied. To study the current epidemiology of sleep apnoea in Finland, overall burden of comorbidities, and multimorbidity profiles in individuals with incident sleep apnoea, we conducted a register-based, nationwide, retrospective study of data from January 2016–December 2019. The prevalence of clinically diagnosed sleep apnoea was 3.7% in the Finnish adult population; 1-year incidence was 0.6%. Multimorbidity was present in 63% of individuals at the time of sleep apnoea diagnosis. Of those with incident sleep apnoea, 34% were heavily multimorbid (presenting with ≥4 comorbidities). The three most common chronic morbidities before sleep apnoea diagnosis were musculoskeletal disease, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. In multimorbid sleep apnoea patients, hypertension, and metabolic diseases, including obesity and diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal diseases and dorsopathies, in different combinations, encompassed the most frequent disease pairs preceding a sleep apnoea diagnosis. Our study adds to the few population-based studies by introducing overall and detailed figures on the burden of comorbidities in sleep apnoea in a nationwide sample and provides up-to-date information on the occurrence of sleep apnoea as well as novel insights in multimorbidity in individuals with incident sleep apnoea.

Footnotes

This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the ERJ Open Research. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJOR online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.

Conflict of interest: Marja Palomäki has received lecture fees from GlaxoSmithCline ltd, Chiesi ltd and Orion ltd, and research grants form Foundation of the Finnish Anti-Tuberculosis Association, Väinö and Laina Kivi Foundation, and Ida Montin Foundation.

Conflict of interest: Tarja Saaresranta is the chairperson of Finnish Task Force for Current Care Guidelines of Adult Sleep Apnoea. She has received lecture fee from Jazz Pharmaceuticals and financial support for educational events from ResMed Finland and Philips Healthcare Finland.

Conflict of interest: Ulla Anttalainen has received research grants from the Finnish Government / Turku University Hospital, Foundation of the Finnish Anti-Tuberculosis Association, Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation, and Research Foundation for Respiratory Diseases.

Conflict of interest: Markku Partinen has received study grant from Parkinson Foundation, consulting fees from Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Bioprojet, lecturing fees form MSD, Takeda, and GSK, and has participated in medical advisory board of Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Bioprojet.

Conflict of interest: Jaana Keto is an employee in Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Conflict of interest: Miika Linna has received consulting fee from Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

This is a PDF-only article. Please click on the PDF link above to read it.

  • Received November 17, 2021.
  • Accepted March 25, 2022.
  • Copyright ©The authors 2022
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This version is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0. For commercial reproduction rights and permissions contact permissions{at}ersnet.org

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