Association of cervical spondylosis with obstructive sleep apnea

Objective: The study objective was to evaluate the association between cervical spondylosis (CS) and a subsequent diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in light of the expected constricting impact of CS-associated cervical spine changes on the pharyngeal airway space, a key contributor to OSA. Methods: Data were retrieved from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Dataset. A total of 98,234 patients who newly received a diagnosis of OSA were identified. We identified four propensity score-matched controls per OSA patient (n = 392,936). Chi-square tests were used to compare cases and controls on sociodemographic characteristics, and multivariable logistic regression modelling to examine the association of OSA with prior CS. Results: Of the 98,234 sampled patients, 18,070 (18.4%) patients had a prior CS diagnosis, significantly different among cases compared to controls, being 18.4% and12.1%, respectively, p < 0.001. Logistic regression analysis showed an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of prior CS of 1.778 (95% confident interval (CI): 1.744–1.814) relative to controls. The adjusted odds of prior CS without myelopathy was 1.764 for cases relative to controls (95% CI: 1.727–1.801), and for prior CS with myelopathy (adjusted OR: 1.778, 95% CI: 1.721–1.837). Analysis stratified by age showed that in the 45–64- and >64-year age groups, the adjusted ORs of CS were 1.803 (95% CI: 1.758–1.850) and 1.634 (95% CI: 1.568–1.703), respectively, for cases relative to controls. Conclusions: Our results suggest that OSA is associated with prior CS. The results call for professionals to be alert to the possibility of subsequent development of OSA among patients with CS.