Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea symptoms and risk factors in an Armenian population sample

Aim

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common medical condition with significant adverse consequences. OSA awareness among the general population and physicians in Armenia is quite low. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of OSA symptoms and risk factors in Armenia, which has not been investigated so far.

Patients and methods

This was a cross-sectional study of 1,500 randomly selected adults from the capital city and regions of the country. The instrument used to assess the risk of OSA was the Berlin questionnaire.

Results

Of the 1,500 respondents, 44% (49% of men and 37% of women) were identified as being at high risk of OSA. In both genders the risk of OSA increased with age achieving the maximum level of 60% at the age of 50?C69?years and declining to 45% after the age of 70?years. Before the age of 50?years, men were at higher risk of OSA than women (42% vs. 19%, p?Conclusion Almost every second Armenian male and every third female citizen could benefit from evaluation for OSA.