Keratoconus patients more likely to develop sleep apnoea

Keratoconus patients are more likely to develop sleep apnoea, states a paper in the Journal of Cornea and External Disease.

Dr Michael Saidel, Section of Ophthalmology, University of Chicago, Illinois, USA, led a team that evaluated 92 keratoconus patients and 92 control patients. Each patient was classified as being high or low risk for sleep apnoea after answering the Berlin Questionnaire (BQ). The risk factors linked to high risk sleep apnoea was identified using logistic regression.

Out of the keratoconus patients questioned, 18 had a positive known sleep apnoea history and 49 were identified as high risk by the results of the BQ. Six of the 92 control patients had a positive known sleep apnoea history and 25 were identified as high risk.

In the control patients' age, body mass index and family history of sleep apnoea were the major risk factors for sleep apnoea. However, in keratoconus patients body mass index was the only risk factor for sleep apnoea.

The study results suggest that ophthalmologists should consider screening keratoconus patients for sleep apnoea.