Screening for High Risk of Sleep Apnea in an Ambulatory Care Setting in Saudi Arabia

Sleep apnea is a potentially serious but under-diagnosed sleep disorder. Saudi Arabia has a high prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and smoking, which are all major risk factors for sleep apnea. However, few studies report screening for sleep apnea in Saudi Arabia. A three-month prospective, questionnaire-based study, using the Berlin Questionnaire (BQ) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), screened 319 patients attending a family medicine clinic in Saudi Arabia for risk of sleep apnea. The results showed that when using the BQ and the ESS, 95 (29.8%) and 102 (32.0%) respondents were at high risk of sleep apnea. Taken together, the BQ and the ESS combined measure showed that 41 (12.9%) respondents were classified as high risk for sleep apnea. Logistic regression revealed that the high risk of sleep apnea was statistically significantly (p < 0.05) associated with respondent characteristics of obesity and hypertension. No associations were found between high risk for sleep apnea and: Smoking, diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism or hyperlipidemia. Screening for sleep apnea using the BQ and ESS questionnaires, particularly among those who are obese or hypertensive, can be a fast, valid and acceptable way of alerting the physician to this disorder among patients.