Osteoarthritis Linked to Increased Risk of Sleep Apnea, Study Finds
Researchers have discovered in a new study that patients with osteoarthritis (OA) are at higher risk of developing sleep apnea (SA), a disease with high morbidity and mortality. Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent joint disease, leading to chronic pain and inflammation, two established risk factors for sleep apnea. The study was published in the journal of Clinical Rheumatology by Yanqiu Zhu and colleagues.
The purpose of the current study was to examine whether OA, such as knee, hip, and hand OA, is linked with a higher risk of sleep apnea. Employing data from the IQVIA Medical Research Database, three individual cohort studies were performed to evaluate the rate of SA among persons with OA versus those without OA.
The research utilized a cohort design of participants who were 50 years and older, stratified into three cohorts according to the type of OA (knee, hip, and hand OA). Each OA patient was matched with a maximum of five non-OA patients according to age, sex, entry-time, and body mass index (BMI) to control for confounding factors.
OA Cohorts:
Knee OA: 58,674 patients
Hip OA: Not explicitly given in the summary
Hand OA: Not specifically provided within the summary
Non-OA Cohorts:
Knee OA Comparison Group: 235,850 non-OA participants
The risk incidence of SA was estimated separately within OA and non-OA groups. Cox proportional hazard regression was employed to estimate the association of OA with developing SA, controlled for suspected confounders .
Key Findings
Knee Osteoarthritis
SA Incidence: 2.29 per 1,000 person-years for the OA group versus 1.41 per 1,000 person-years for the non-OA group.
Risk Increase: Knee OA patients had a 45% increased risk of developing SA (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.45, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.34–1.56).
Hip Osteoarthritis:
Risk Increase: Hip OA patients also had a 45% increased risk of SA (adjusted HR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.28–1.66).
Hand Osteoarthritis:
Risk Increase: Hand OA patients had a 50% increased risk of SA (adjusted HR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.26–1.78).
This study has concluded that patients with knee, hip, and hand osteoarthritis are at significantly increased risk of developing sleep apnea relative to those without OA. These results underscore the need to consider sleep apnea as a possible comorbidity in OA patients and indicate that targeted screening, prevention, and treatment strategies for sleep apnea in OA patients may be an effective way to decrease the overall disease burden.
Reference:
Zhu, Y., Jiang, Q., Zhang, Y. et al. Osteoarthritis and the risk of sleep apnea: a general population-based cohort study. Clin Rheumatol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-025-07457-1
