Obstructive sleep apnea severity was 18% higher on Saturdays than midweek, a pattern that researchers have termed “social apnea."

Researchers conducted a large-scale, real-world study evaluating day-of-week variations in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity. The findings, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, analyzed multi-night data collected between January 2020 and September 2023 from 70,052 adults using a validated, under-mattress sleep monitoring device cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration. The device employs ballistography and machine-learning algorithms to estimate the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), sleep duration, and sleep timing, with approximately 80% classification accuracy for OSA compared with polysomnography.

The odds of moderate-to-severe OSA (AHI at least15 events/hour) were 18% higher on Saturdays compared with Wednesdays. This effect was more pronounced among men (21% higher) than woman (9% higher). Also, the odds were higher in participants aged younger than 60 years (24% higher) compared with those aged 60 years or older (7% higher).

Weekend catch-up sleep and social jetlag were associated with further increases in the weekend odds of OSA by 47% and 38%, respectively. When evaluated as a continuous measure, weekend AHI was 6% higher than weekday AHI, corresponding to a mean increase of 0.76 events per hour.

Eligible participants recorded at least 4 nights of sleep per week, had a minimum of 28 valid AHI measurements annually, and demonstrated a yearly average AHI of at least 5 events per hour.

Day-of-week effects on OSA were examined using non-linear logistic fixed effect models with participant/year/month strata intercepts. The models included natural splines to represent day of the week and to adjust for seasonal variation, with Wednesday designated as the reference day.

Analyses were stratified by sex, age group, and latitude, and additional models assessed the influence of weekend catch-up sleep (at least 45 minutes longer than weekdays) and social jetlag (at least 60 minutes shift in sleep midpoint).

Disclosures can be found in the published study.

Source: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine