The Impact of Marital Status and Race in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Objectives To examine the difference in survival of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) based on marital status and race. Methods A single academic institution with data collection from 2005 to 2015. Patients with a diagnosis of OSA based on polysomnogram were abstracted from electronic medical records. Patients were classified as “married” or “unmarried.” Race was self-reported as White, Black, Asian American, Hispanic/Latinx, Middle Eastern descent, or unrecorded and gathered from the electronic medical record. Results There were 6200 adults included. Of these, married patients composed 62.7% (n = 3890) of the patients. Patients were 51.3% White (n = 3182), 39.8% (n = 2467) were Black, and 8.9% (n = 551) were other/unrecorded. Married patients had better survival probabilities ( p < .0001). Unmarried patients had 2.72 times the risk of death than those who were married (95% CI 1.78–4.20) when examining OSA survival. When examining survival of those on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) between married and unmarried patients, those who were unmarried had 2.00 (95% CI 1.58–2.54) times the risk of death than those who were married. Married Black patients demonstrated the best survival probabilities, followed by married White patients ( p < .0001). Married patients had lower mean sleep efficiency than those that were unmarried (76.2% and 77.2%, respectively; p = .019). Conclusion Married patients with OSA had increased survival compared to their single counterparts. Married Black patients had the highest survival.