Brief communication (Original). Sleep-disordered breathing and risk factors in Thailand

Background: Sleep-disordered breathing or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has an important effect on the quality of life. Very few data of OSA are available for Thai persons.

Objective: Investigate the prevalence of high risk to OSA and the relationship between OSA and risk factors in Thai medical students.

Materials and methods: Three hundred seven subjects were recruited from all of the medical students (fourth year to sixth year) the Faculty of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand for this cross-sectional study. Data was collected between June and September 2010. The Berlin questionnaire was used to determine risk for OSA. Logistic regression analysis was performed with p-value less than 0.05 for statistical significance.

Results: The prevalence of high risk to OSA was 6.8%. Total mean of sleep duration, bedtime, and wake-time was 6.59 hours. Bedtime of male students was significantly later than female students. The medical students with body mass index (BMI) >23 kilogram/meter² and with underlying diseases were at high-risk for OSA.

Conclusion: Prevalence of high-risk to OSA of Thai medical students was 6.8%. The medical students with BMI >23 kilogram/meter² and with underlying diseases were at high risk for OSA but gender, age, academic year, and academic achievement did not relate to OSA.