Sleep disorders linked to more severe COVID-19 outcomes

Editor's Note

In this study, Cleveland Clinic researchers find that patients with certain sleep disorders have more severe outcomes from COVID-19.

The analysis included 5,402 patients. Although patients with sleep-disordered breathing and sleep-related hypoxia did not have an increased risk of developing COVID-19, they had a worse clinical prognosis from the disease.

Time-to-event analyses showed sleep-related hypoxia was associated with a 31% higher rate of hospitalization and mortality.

Percentage of total sleep time at <90% oxygen saturation was associated with increasing WHO-designated clinical outcomes (ie, hospitalization, use of supplemental oxygen, noninvasive ventilation, mechanical ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and death) COVID-19 ordinal scale scores.

If sleep-related hypoxia does indeed translate to worse COVID-19 outcomes, risk stratification strategies should be implemented to prioritize early allocation of COVID-19 therapy to these patients, the authors say.