CIDRAP Patients with both severe and nonsevere COVID-19 infections are at higher risk for both new-onset obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and related serious complications than their uninfected peers, Albert Einstein College of Medicine researchers report in a study published this week on the preprint server medRxiv.
The retrospective study, which has not been peer-reviewed, involved 910,393 patients tested for COVID-19 at Montefiore Health System in the Bronx from March 2020 to August 2024. Follow-up lasted for up to 4.5 years. Of the 910,393 patients, 57,206 tested positive for COVID-19, and 853,187 tested negative.
OSA is estimated to affect 10% to 30% of adults worldwide. It’s characterized by repeated upper-airway collapse during sleep, which leads to intermittent low oxygen levels, poor sleep, and sympathetic nervous system overactivation (“fight or flight mode”). The study authors noted OSA’s link to cardiovascular, metabolic, and cognitive disease. Likewise, “hospitalization due to COVID-19 often entails prolonged immobilization, corticosteroid use, and weight gain, which are known risk factors for OSA,” they wrote. “Even among non-hospitalized individuals, post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (“long COVID”) may impair respiratory function and sleep architecture, potentially precipitating the emergence of OSA.”