Prevalence and clinical characteristics of sleep disorders in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), restless leg syndrome (RLS) and insomnia, are present in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with varied prevalence. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate prevalence of OSA, RLS and insomnia in patients with COPD and summarize their clinical characteristics. We searched PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus for eligible articles reporting the prevalence of OSA, RLS, and insomnia in COPD patients. The Newcastle‒Ottawa scale was applied for quality assessment. Odds ratios or mean differences with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were applied for the overall prevalence calculation and clinical characteristics assessment. Sensitivity analysis, subgroup analysis and meta-regression were conducted to evaluate the heterogeneity of the results. Sixty articles reporting the prevalence of sleep disorders in patients with COPD were included, and the prevalence of OSA, RLS, and insomnia reached 29.1 %(95%CI 27.2%–30.9 %), 21.6 %(95%CI 11.8%–33.3 %) and 29.5 %(95%CI 16.9%–44.0 %), respectively. COPD patients with OSA were characterized by male sex (OR 1.631 95 % CI: 1.231–2.161), obesity(kg/m2) (MD 4.435, 95 % CI 3.218–5.652), higher Epworth Sleepiness Scale (MD: 3.741, 95 % CI: 0.655–6.828, p = 0.018), better pulmonary function (MD 5.66, 95 % CI 3.546–7.774) and higher risks of hypertension (OR 1.933 95 % CI 1.382–2.70) and diabetes (OR 1.898 95 % CI 1.264–2.849). COPD patients with RLS were associated with a higher Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) score (MD 3.444, 95 % CI 1.880–5.008) and a longer COPD duration(year) (MD: 3.656, 95 % CI: 2.209–5.103). COPD patients with insomnia were characterized by female sex(OR 0.556, 95%CI 0.545,0.567, p < 0.001). Our study suggests that OSA, RLS and insomnia are common in COPD patients with specific clinical characteristics. Further studies are needed to explore the interactions between COPD and sleep disorders.