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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1443920
This article is part of the Research Topic Beyond Rest: Exploring the Bidirectional Relationship and Intersecting Pathways of Sleep and Physical Health View all 8 articles

Assessment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Rate and Associated Factors Among Lebanese Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Provisionally accepted
Tala Kaddoura Tala Kaddoura 1Mohamad Hodroj Mohamad Hodroj 1Bilal Chmeis Bilal Chmeis 1Fatima Rammal Fatima Rammal 1Sandrella Bou Malhab Sandrella Bou Malhab 1Sara Mansour Sara Mansour 1Amal Akour Amal Akour 2Sami El Khatib Sami El Khatib 3Basile Hosseini Basile Hosseini 4Souheil Hallit Souheil Hallit 5Diana Malaeb Diana Malaeb 6*Hassan Hosseini Hassan Hosseini 7
  • 1 Lebanese International University, Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
  • 2 United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  • 3 Centre for Applied Mathematics and Bioinformatics (CAMB), Gulf University for Science and Technology, Hawally, Kuwait
  • 4 Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, Rhône-Alpes, France
  • 5 Applied Science Private University, Amman, Amman, Jordan
  • 6 College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates
  • 7 Ramsay Santé Hôpital privé des Peupliers, Paris, France

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objectives: To estimate the rate of Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and associated factors among Lebanese adults. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in February-April 2022; 1,202 Lebanese adults were enrolled. The sample was collected among several Lebanese governorates through an anonymous online self-reported questionnaire. The STOP-BANG questionnaire was used as a screening tool to estimate the OSA risk. "Low OSA risk" is established with 0-2 positive answers, "Intermediate OSA risk" is established by 3-4 positive answers while "High OSA risk" is established by 5-8 positive answers.Results: This study showed that 743 (62.4%) of the sample had low risk for OSA, 357 (30.0%) had moderate, and 90 (7.6%) had high risk for OSA. Older age (aOR=1.05) and having hypertension (aOR=7.80) were associated with higher odds of moderate OSA. Female sex (aOR=0.04) was significantly associated with lower odds of moderate OSA compared to males.Older age (OR=1.17), higher BMI (OR=1.14), hypertension (OR=18.55), and having severe COVID-19 infection compared to mild (OR=4.30) were significantly associated with higher odds of high OSA, whereas female sex (OR=0.002) and being married compared to single (aOR=0.23) were associated with lower odds of high OSA.This study showed that most Lebanese adults have low risk for OSA. It also confirmed that sex, age, obesity, hypertension, and severe COVID-19 were associated with high OSA risk. These associated factors call for future research exploring the causes including the potential effect of social, economic, and political instability, local customs, and environmental factors. Moreover, future health campaigns should be assigned to increase awareness among Lebanese population regarding the prevention of OSA through lifestyle modifications.

    Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea, Hypertension, Sex, correlates, COVID-19, Lebanon Deleted: . Moreover, (Farran, 2021) Heading 2, Justified, Line spacing: 1.5 lines List Paragraph, Bulleted + Level: 1 + Aligned at: 0.63 cm + Indent at: 1.27 cm

    Received: 04 Jun 2024; Accepted: 31 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Kaddoura, Hodroj, Chmeis, Rammal, Malhab, Mansour, Akour, El Khatib, Hosseini, Hallit, Malaeb and Hosseini. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Diana Malaeb, College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates

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