Self-Reported Sleep Disordered Breathing as Risk Factor for Mortality in the Elderly

Background/Aims—To examine the association between self-reported sleep disordered breathing (‘awaken short of breath or with a headache’) and mortality in a large and ethnically diverse group of community-dwelling elderly people. Methods—1288 participants, 65 years and older, were examined longitudinally. Sleep problems were estimated using the Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale examining: sleep disturbance, snoring, sleep short of breath or with a headache, sleep adequacy, and sleep somnolence. Cox regression analysis was used to examine the association between sleep problems and mortality. Age, gender, education, ethnicity, and body mass index were included as covariates. In further analyses we included hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke as additional covariates. Results—The participants were followed for up to 6 years (mean 2.9, SD: 1.1), and 239 (18.6%) participants died during the follow-up. In unadjusted models, SDB at the initial visit was associated with mortality HR=1.37; 95% CI 1.21-1.55; p<0.0001. After adjusting for all the covariates, the relationship between SDB and mortality remained significant HR=1.48; 95% CI 1.29-1.70; p