Sleep-related disorders showed high screening positivity in an urban adult population of South Delhi, with sleep-related breathing disorder prevalence of 37.0% and primary insomnia 36.0%, and significant associations identified between specific sleep disorders and cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes, hypertension, and abnormal waist-hip ratio.
Sleep-related breathing disorder (SRBD) and primary insomnia were highly prevalent in the study population as assessed by the Global Sleep Assessment Questionnaire (GSAQ).
Daytime sleepiness, obstructive sleep apnea risk, and poor sleep quality were each identified in a substantial proportion of the study population.
Obstructive sleep apnea screen positivity was significantly more prevalent in males than females.
GSAQ-defined SRBD was more frequent in women and was not explained by anthropometric factors, suggesting it captures different phenomena than STOP-Bang screen positivity.
Newly detected hypertension and diabetes were found at substantial rates in this apparently healthy adult community population.
Restless legs syndrome was independently associated with female sex and physical inactivity in multivariable logistic regression.
Daytime sleepiness was independently associated with diabetes and abnormal waist-hip ratio.
Insomnia was independently associated with mental disorder, and poor sleep latency was independently associated with female sex.
The study was a community-based cross-sectional design using four-stage random sampling from an urban South Delhi population.
The authors concluded that questionnaire-based sleep screening is inexpensive and scalable and could be integrated into existing non-communicable disease screening encounters.
This research suggests that sleep-related disorders are very common among adults in urban South Delhi, with over one-third of the 700 study participants screening positive for sleep-related breathing problems or insomnia. Using four different validated sleep questionnaires, the researchers found that poor sleep quality affected nearly one in four participants, about one in five showed signs of obstructive sleep apnea risk, and one in seven reported excessive daytime sleepiness. Importantly, newly detected high blood pressure was found in about one in five participants and diabetes in about one in eight, even though participants were considered apparently healthy at the start of the study. The research also found meaningful links between specific sleep problems and health risk factors. Daytime sleepiness was associated with having diabetes and an abnormal waist-to-hip ratio. Restless legs syndrome was more common in women and in people who were physically inactive. Insomnia was linked to mental health conditions. Interestingly, the two tools used to screen for breathing-related sleep problems captured somewhat different groups: the STOP-Bang questionnaire identified more men and older individuals as high-risk, while the GSAQ identified more women with sleep-related breathing disorders — suggesting these tools may be measuring related but distinct problems. This research suggests that simple, low-cost sleep questionnaires could be added to existing health check-ups for non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension in India, where sleep disorders are largely underdiagnosed. Because this was a one-time survey rather than a long-term study, it cannot determine whether sleep disorders cause cardiovascular problems or vice versa, but the findings highlight that sleep health may be an overlooked dimension of preventive care in urban Indian communities.
V. K. Singh, F. Islam, R. Pathak, Aqsa Shaikh, Srikrishna Sulgodu Ramachandra. (2026). An Epidemiological Study of Sleep-Related Disorders and Their Association With Cardiovascular Risk Factors in an Adult Population (30-69 Years) of South Delhi. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.113932