Gender differences in the effect of comorbid insomnia symptom on depression, anxiety, fatigue, and daytime sleepiness in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Purpose: This study investigated gender differences in the effect of comorbid insomnia symptom on depression, anxiety, fatigue, daytime sleepiness, and quality of life in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. There are gender differences in the presentation of obstructive sleep apnea. However, the influence of gender on the presentation of comorbid insomnia symptom and obstructive sleep apnea is not known.

Methods: Allparticipantsperformed overnightpolysomnography and completed a battery of questionnaires including Beck Depression Inventory, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and Short Form-36 Health Survey. Insomnia symptom was defined as present if a patient had any insomnia complaints longer than 1 month and at least one time per week.

Results: Six hundred fifty-five adult patients with obstructive sleep apnea were enrolled; 233 (35.5 %) reported comorbid insomnia symptom with obstructive sleep apnea. The severity of obstructive sleep apnea was not related to comorbid insomnia symptom. Based on linear regression, women had higher depression, fatigue, and daytime sleepiness and lower health-related quality of life than men (all, p<0.05). The presence of insomnia symptom had negative effects on fatigue (p=0.005) and quality of life only (p=0.015) in men but not in women when taking gender-by-insomnia interaction into consideration. There were significant differences in polysomnography-based sleep architecture between the obstructive sleep apnea-only and obstructive sleep apnea-insomnia groups, but only in the subgroup of men.

Conclusions: Men are more prone to the negative impact of comorbid insomnia symptom and obstructive sleep apnea on their level of fatigue and quality of life than women.