Reimbursed drugs in patients with sleep-disordered breathing: A static-charge-sensitive bed study.

BACKGROUND: Co-morbidities in men and women with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) were compared retrospectively to an age-standardized, general Finnish population. The prevalence of diseases was based on the reimbursement refunds of medications.

METHODS: Two hundred thirty-three age- and BMI-matched male-female pairs and 368 consecutive women identified from our sleep recording database were included. Data on medication were gathered from the National Agency for Medicines and Social Insurance Institution database.

RESULTS: Men with SDB had three-fold prevalence of reimbursed medication for diabetes and two-fold prevalence of reimbursed medication for chronic arrhythmia. Women with SDB had three-fold prevalence of reimbursed medication for thyroid insufficiency, and postmenopausal women had two-fold prevalence of reimbursed medication for psychosis. BMI and age did not explain prevalence of reimbursed medications for chronic arrhythmia or psychosis. In both genders with SDB, prevalence of reimbursed medications compared to the general population was two-fold for hypertension and seven-fold for asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Partial upper airway obstruction was associated with three-fold prevalence of reimbursed medication for asthma and/or COPD in both genders and 60% reduced prevalence of reimbursed medication for hypertension in females matched for age and BMI.

CONCLUSIONS: Co-morbidity profile differed between genders. Our results emphasize the importance of diagnosis and treatment of co-morbidities and partial upper airway obstruction.