Low socioeconomic status is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease among adult obstructive sleep apnea syndrome patients requiring treatment.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To evaluate the possible role of low socioeconomic status (SES) as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) among obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) patients requiring treatment. DESIGN Polysomnographic and demographic characteristics and associated morbidity were measured in 686 prospectively recruited adult OSAS patients from two regions in Israel. SETTING Two university-affiliated sleep laboratories. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS The multiple logistic regression (after adjusting for gender, body mass index [BMI], and smoking) revealed that the following are independent determinants for CVD in OSAS patients requiring treatment: each decrease in income level category (odds ratio [OR], 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1 to 1.7), age > or = 1 year (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.04 to 1.1), hypertension (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.3 to 3.1), and hyperlipidemia (OR, 3.7; 95% CI, 2.4 to 5.8); area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) = 81.9%. The multivariate determinants describing the low-SES OSAS patients included: minorities and immigrants combined (OR, 6.0; 95% CI, 2.9 to 12), female gender (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.6 to 3.9), increased BMI (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.3 to 2.9), unmarried status (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2 to 3.1), and years of education (> or = 1 year) [OR, 0.8; 95% CI, 0.7 to 0.8]; area under the ROC = 78.1%. CONCLUSION In addition to the already known traditional risk factors, low SES was found to be a novel independent risk factor for CVD among adult OSAS patients requiring treatment.

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