Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) remains a prevalent condition, but its occupational burden is unclear. We carried out a systematic review to characterize the consistency and magnitude of occupational associations with OSA.
Methods: We studied OSA within three occupational categories: commercial drivers, organic solvent-exposed workers, other selected occupations. We performed a meta-analysis on the prevalence of OSA among drivers and the risk of OSA associated with solvent exposure.
Results: The pooled OSA prevalence in drivers was 41% (95% confidence interval [CI] 26% to 56%) for apnea hypopnea-index (AHI) is greater than 5, and 15% (95% CI 12% to 19%) for AHI is greater than 15. Exposure to solvents was associated with increased but non-statistically significant risk of OSA: summary relative risk, 2.38 (95% CI 0.89 to 6.32). Evidence of occupational association was inconsistent for other factors.
Conclusions: OSA is common among commercial drivers and potentially associated with occupations involving likely solvent exposure.
UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley (Mr Schwartz); Department of Internal Medicine, Occupational Disease and Hematology, Kyrgyz State Medical Academy, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and School of Public Health, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan (Dr Vinnikov); Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco (Dr Blanc), California.
Address correspondence to: Daniel A. Schwartz, MA, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 50 University Hall #7360, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360 (dan.schwartz@berkeley.edu).
Funding sources: None declared.
Authors Schwartz, Vinnikov, and Blanc have no relationships/conditions/circumstances that present potential conflict of interest.
The JOEM editorial board and planners have no financial interest related to this research.
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