A cross-sectional study on the relationship between electronic cigarette and combustible cigarette use with obstructive sleep apnea among U.S. adults: result from NHANES 2015–2018

BACKGROUND: To explore whether the use of e-cigarettes and conventional cigarettes affects the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in adults. METHODS: Complete records of smoking and sleep about OSA from the 2015–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The adults were divided into four groups: noncurrent smokers, current electronic cigarettes (e-cigarette) users only, current conventional cigarettes (c-cigarette) users only, and dual users. OSA was assessed by three main signs and symptoms from the questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression after adjusting for covariates was conducted to investigate the association of OSA with different smoking patterns. RESULTS: Among the 11,248 participants, the prevalence of OSA was higher among smokers compared to non-smokers (P < 0.0001). In a stratified analysis of smoke manners, the results showed that an increased prevalence of OSA with c-cigarette use alone (OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.17–1.63) and dual-use (OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.37–2.32) compared to non-smoking participants, while there was no significant difference with e-cigarette use (OR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.52–1.37). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed the prevalence of OSA is highest in dual users (OR = 1.93, 95% CI = 1.39–2.69) than non-smokers. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate the prevalence of OSA was higher in c-cigarette smokers than in non-smokers, while there was no significant difference in the prevalence of OSA between e-cigarette smokers and non-smokers. Dual users had the highest prevalence for OSA compared to c-cigarette smokers, e-cigarette smokers and non-smokers. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13690-023-01083-6.