Due to the scanty nature of comprehensive reports on the U.S. demographics suffering from sleep apnea, the research team aggregated different sources to uncover data and made some assumptions and calculations to arrive at the figures illustrated. Importantly, the prevalence of sleep apnea is higher in men than women since only 19.89% of women in the U.S. use CPAP machines versus 42.24% of men. In the entire population, 22.1% of adults aged 30-70 years and 0.85% to 3.4% of children aged 2-8 years use CPAP machines. Below we detail our research approach, assumptions, and calculations to approximate the figures presented.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In identifying the income level, employment, location, home ownership and level of education for CPAP machine purchasers/users, we started by researching studies and surveys specifically focusing on sleep conditions by organizations such as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Science Direct, Sleep Apnea, and many sleep apnea websites. We found relevant information regarding age, gender, and race for CPAP machine purchasers/users; unfortunately, we found no information about the users’ level of income, employment, location, home ownership, and level of education.
Next, we decided to use existing information to try to triangulate data concerning the demographics using CPAP machines. The research team used existing information publicly available regarding the demographics of people diagnosed with sleep apnea to further triangulate the findings based on the requirements. We methodically scanned through publications, reports, studies, white papers and surveys published by medicine, health and wellbeing organizations, the government, and media sites including NCBI, NIH, NEJM, Sleep Apnea, NPR, Sleep Foundation, Sleep Review Magazine, Medicine Plus, and Alaska Sleep. These sources chiefly featured data on age and gender. But, we also concentrated on finding data regarding how CPAP machines are useful.
Lastly, we sought to find market reports on CPAP machines to identify the manufacturers in the industry and their customers in reports by market intelligence vendors such as Markets and Markets, Forrester, Gartner, and Grand View Research. It turned out that the leading global players in this sector such as BMC Medical, GE Healthcare, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Curative Medical Inc., and Cadwell Laboratories have many products not only limited to CPAP machines. Again, these companies have not published any papers/reports that identify the demographics of their customers.
The following assumptions were incorporated in the course of the research. First, the focus was on individuals diagnosed with sleep apnea per year and assumed that all those people diagnosed with sleep apnea need/use CPAP machines. Second, we combined statistics from two sources, i.e., Sleep Apnea Statistics, [1] which identified the age and gender of the people suffering from sleep apnea, and another report by the American Academy of Sleep Apnea [3] to corroborate that 85% of those diagnosed use CPAP machines.
FINDINGS & CALCULATIONS
Frost and Sullivan reported that 5.9 million adults in the U.S. are diagnosed with sleep apnea, while approximately 23.5 million remain undiagnosed. Out of those diagnosed, 85% or 5 million sleep apnea patients use CPAP machines [3].
- AGE
According to Cheap CPAP Supplies, 26% of adults aged 30-70 years are diagnosed with sleep apnea and thus, need to use CPAP machine. The site further notes that one to four percent [1] of children aged 2-8 years are diagnosed with sleep apnea and thus, need to use CPAP machine. In this regard, we can calculate the percentage of adults aged 30-70 years using CPAP machines as follows;
85% of all diagnosed patients use CPAP machines [3].
26% of adults aged 30-70 years are diagnosed with sleep apnea.
Therefore, 85% of 26% (the U.S. adult population with sleep apnea)
(85 ÷ 100) × 26 = 22.1%
Similarly, one to four percent of children aged 2 to 8 years are diagnosed with sleep apnea.
(85 ÷ 100) × 1 = 0.85%
(85 ÷ 100) × 4 = 3.4%
Based on the calculation, approximately 22.1% of U.S. adult population and 0.85% to 3.4% of U.S. children aged 2-8 years use CPAP machines [triangulated using source 1 and 3]
- GENDER
Cheap CPAP Supplies notes that 23.4% of women and 49.7% of men in the U.S. are diagnosed with sleep apnea and thus, need to use CPAP machines. The report further identified the U.S. male-to-female ratio of sleep apnea as 2 to 3:1. [1]. Based on those findings, we can approximate the percentages of women and men using CPAP machines as follows:
85% of all diagnosed patients use CPAP machines [3].
23.4% of women in the U.S. are diagnosed with sleep apnea.
Therefore, 85% of 23.4% (the U.S. female adult population with sleep apnea)
(85 ÷ 100) × 23.4 = 19.89%
Similarly, 49.7% of U.S. male adult population are diagnosed with sleep apnea.
(85 ÷ 100) × 49.7 (the U.S. male adult population with sleep apnea)
(85 ÷ 100) × 49.7 = 42.24%
Based on the calculations, 19.89% of women and 42.24% of men in the U.S. use CPAP machines [triangulated using source 1 and 3]
- RACE
A study by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine noted that the prevalence of severe sleep apnea is higher in African-American males. The study also confirmed that “African-American men younger than 40 years of age showed increased apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) by 3.21 breathing pauses per hour of sleep compared to white men in the same age range and BMI. Among participants aged 50 to 59 years, African-American men showed increased AHI by 2.79 breathing events per hour of sleep [2].