Prevalence and Related Factors for High-Risk of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in a Large Korean Population: Results of a Questionnaire-Based Study

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A population-based door-to-door study of cross-sectional methods for assessing the prevalence and factors related to a high risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) was conducted using the Korean version of the Berlin Questionnaire (K-BQ). METHODS: Pooled data collected from Community Health Surveys by the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention were analyzed. Of 8,140 respondents from the population, 7,955 were finally included in this study. RESULTS: Of the 7,955 included subjects, 15.7% of the men and 9.8% of the women were at high risk of OSA. Significant differences were found in the following factors between the subjects with a high risk of OSA: gender, age, marital status, educational level, occupation, and presence of smoking, harmful alcohol use, and chronic diseases. Male sex, harmful alcohol use, and the presence of chronic diseases were identified as factors independently associated with a high risk of OSA. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to confirm the usefulness of the K-BQ to study the prevalence of OSA in the Korean general population. The findings demonstrate that harmful alcohol use and chronic diseases are very common characteristics among those with a high risk of OSA.