Prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Factors Affecting It among Old Age Population of Rural Area of Pakistan

Although Obstructive sleep apnea is now recognized as one of the major public health problems because of the improvement in standards of life, however, with increasing its prevalence, it adversely affects the quality of life. So, our study was set to assess the prevalence of OSA and the factors that affect it. This may make new opportunities available by which we could bring a decline in OSA incidence after measuring its prevalence and identification of factors that affect it. This cross-sectional study was conducted in a nearby rural area of (THQ) Tehsil Headquarter Hospital, Phalia, Punjab for around three months from August 2020 to October 2020. Data was collected with the help of two questionnaires including a self-structured proforma and STOP scale. People with age less than 51years and more than 60 years were excluded and only people with age above 50 years and below 61 years were included. Data analysis was accomplished with the help of SPSS version 25 and various tests including the Chi-square test, Independent Sample t-test, and One-Way ANOVA were applied to assess the study variables. Results of the study showed an overall high prevalence of OSA higher risk (41.7% participants had a higher risk of development of OSA) Association, between OSA risk and age groups (p=0.001) and between OSA risk and Educational status (0.000) was significant statistically, while it was not significant between OSA risk and gender (p=0.394). The difference in score on the STOP scale was significant, across gender (p=0.032), three age groups (p=0.002), and four levels of education (p=0.000). Our study indicates an increased prevalence of higher risk for OSA development particularly among men, higher age, and lower education. So, proper planning is required to deal with the increasing prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea.