Distance to Specialist Medical Care and Diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Rural Saskatchewan

Table 1

Characteristics of the study sample (n = 6525; 3731 households).

Characteristics	Proportion (%)	Obstructive sleep apnea symptoms in the absence of a sleep apnea diagnosis (n = 2432; 37%)		value^a	Travel distance to specialist medical care ≥ 250 km (; 25%)		value^a
		n	Row %		n	Row %
Exposure
Travel distance to specialist medical care (km)
<100	22	480	33.8	0.006	—	—	—
100–189	28	669	36.7		—	—
190–249	25	622	38.1		—	—
≥250	25	661	40.0		—	—
Potential confounders
Age (years)^b
18–45	25	533	32.5	<0.001	393	23.9	0.08
46–55	26	695	41.6		439	26.3
56–65	24	676	43.9		381	24.8
>65	26	528	31.6		438	26.2
Sex
Female	50	922	28.5	<0.001	830	25.6	0.05
Male	50	1510	45.9		821	25.0
Body mass index (kg/m^2)
Normal (<25)	29	479	25.3	<0.001	463	24.5	0.38
Overweight (25–29.9)	41	1041	38.6		658	24.4
Obese (≥30)	30	912	47.1		530	27.4
Education level
Postsecondary	41	947	35.2	0.005	668	24.9	0.02
Secondary or less	59	1485	38.7		983	25.6
Money left over at the end of the month
Some	60	1452	37.3	0.14	937	24.1	0.008
Just enough	21	489	35.4		328	23.7
Not enough	19	491	39.3		386	30.9
Heavy alcohol consumption, more than 5 drinks on one occasion
Never	55	1217	34.0	<0.001	934	26.1	0.21
1/month or less	33	837	38.8		529	24.5
1/week or less	10	320	48.1		161	24.2
More than 1/week	2	58	47.2		27	22.0
Smoking status
Never	52	1118	32.7	<0.001	839	24.6	0.76
Past	36	981	42.3		596	25.7
Current	12	333	42.2		216	27.4

^a value from Rao-Scott chi-square tests for significant difference in proportions with obstructive sleep apnea symptoms in the absence of a sleep apnea diagnosis/travel distance to specialist medical care ≥250 km between levels of each variable. ^bProportions add to 101% due to rounding.