ArticleBMJ open2021
Chronic breathlessness and sleep problems: a population-based survey.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global disparities in chronic dyspnoea prevalence in population-based studies: a comprehensive literature review.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Review
- Association of multiple symptoms with sleep quality and duration: a cross-sectional population-based study of older men in Sweden.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Lessons about Low-Dose Morphine at the Intersection of Sleep and Breathlessness.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2024Article
- Factors most strongly associated with breathlessness in a population aged 50-64 years.ERJ open research · 2024Article
- Factors Associated with and Prognosis Impact of Perceived Sleep Quality and Estimated Quantity in Patients Receiving Non-Invasive Ventilation for Acute Respiratory Failure.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThis study aimed to explore the relationship (presence and severity) between chronic breathlessness and sleep problems, independently of diagnoses and health service contact by surveying a large, representative sample of the general population.
settingAnalysis of the 2017 South Australian Health Omnibus Survey, an annual, cross-sectional, face-to-face, multistage, clustered area systematic sampling survey carried out in Spring 2017.Chronic breathlessness was self-reported using the ordinal modified Medical Research Council (mMRC; scores 0 (none) to 4 (housebound)) where breathlessness has been present for more than 3 of the previous 6 months. 'Sleep problems-ever' and 'sleep problem-current' were assessed dichotomously. Regression models were adjusted for age; sex and body mass index (BMI).
results2900 responses were available (mean age 48.2 years (SD=18.6); 51% were female; mean BMI 27. 1 (SD=5.9)). Prevalence was: 2.7% (n=78) sleep problems-past; 6.8% (n=198) sleep problems-current and breathlessness (mMRC 1-4) was 8.8% (n=254). Respondents with sleep problemspast were more likely to be breathless, older with a higher BMI and sleep problems-present also included a higher likelihood of being female.After adjusting for age, sex and BMI, respondents with chronic breathlessness had 1.9 (95% CI=1.0 to 3.5) times the odds of sleep problems-past and sleep problems-current (adjusted OR=2.3; 95% CI=1.6 to 3.3).
conclusionsThere is a strong association between the two prevalent conditions. Future work will seek to understand if there is a causal relationship using validated sleep assessment tools and whether better managing one condition improves the other.
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