Association Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Assessed by STOP-Bang and Reaction Time in Emergency Department Healthcare Workers at Persahabatan Hospital

Abstract

Background: Reaction time is the interval between an external stimulus and motorresponse, is closely linked to alertness and is critical in professions requiring rapid responsessuch as doctors and nurses. Obstructive sleep apnea has an impact on cognitive function,including impaired alertness, poor cognitive performance and difficulty maintaining attention.This study aims to examine the relationship between OSA and reaction time, determine theproportion of OSA measured using the STOP-BANG questionnaire and reaction time inemergency department healthcare workers at Persahabatan Hospital.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Juny-July 2025 involving healtcareworkers at Persahabatan Hospital. Eligible healthcare workers completed STOP-BANG questionnaire, had their visual and auditory reaction times measured.

Results: This study included 70 participants. The mean STOP-BANG questionnaire scorewas 0,917 with the lowest score 0 and the highest score 6. The mean visual reaction timewas 197,2 ms and the mean auditory reaction time was 181,1 ms. A significant associationwas found between reaction time and years of service (p < 0.001). However, no associationwas observed with other factors such as age, sex, work pattern, BMI, neck circumferenceand smoking status. The correlation between OSA and visual reaction time showed r = -0.056 (p = 0.642), while for auditory reaction time r = -0.069 (p = 0.568). The correlationbetween STOP-BANG risk and visual reaction time p = 1.000 and auditory reaction time p =1.000.

Conclusion: There was no significant relationship between OSA risk based on the STOP-BANG questionnaire and either visual or auditory reaction time.