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Validation of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire of Obstructive Sleep Apnea among Elderly Chinese in the General Population

  • Psychiatrics • Original Article
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Abstract

Purpose

The prevalence of under-diagnosis among individuals with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is alarming, and may be associated with perceptions regarding OSA. To facilitate future studies on OSA, this study validated the revised version of the Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ-R) for OSA in a general population.

Methods

A random anonymous population-based telephone survey interviewed 580 adults aged ≥ 50 years in Hong Kong, who self-reported not having been told by doctors as having OSA, from February 5 to March 19, 2021.

Results

The confirmatory factor analysis identified a modified 7-factor model (i.e., timeline chronic, consequence, personal control, treatment control, illness coherence, timeline cyclical, and emotional representation) that showed satisfactory model fit index and internal consistency. Nine items were removed from the original version because of low factor loadings. No floor and ceiling effects were observed. Convergent validity was supported by the positive associations between the consequence subscale with perceived negative outcomes of OSA and between the illness coherence subscale and perceived understanding of OSA symptoms. The participants tended to endorse the items of timeline chronic, treatment control, and illness coherence but not with those of emotional representations. The mean scores of the IPQ-R subscales differed by age and education level.

Conclusion

The modified IPQ-R of OSA showed acceptable psychometric properties. It is applicable to assessing illness perceptions of OSA in the Chinese general population aged ≥ 50 years not having received OSA diagnosis. The validated tool would support future studies and health practices related to OSA.

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Data availability

The data was available on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank participants for their contribution to the present study.

Funding

The study was supported by internal research funding of the Centre for Health Behaviours Research, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Health Behaviours Research, Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Yanqiu Yu, Mason M. C. Lau & Joseph T. F. Lau

  2. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, China

    Anise M. S. Wu

  3. Li Chiu Kong Family Sleep Assessment Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Yun-Kwok Wing & Joey W. Y. Chan

  4. Department of Psychology, School of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China

    Joseph T. F. Lau

Authors
  1. Yanqiu Yu
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  2. Anise M. S. Wu
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  3. Yun-Kwok Wing
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  4. Joey W. Y. Chan
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  5. Mason M. C. Lau
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  6. Joseph T. F. Lau
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Contributions

Conceptualization: JTFL and AMSW; methodology: YY, AMSW, and JTFL; investigation: MMCL; software: YY and AMSW; formal analysis: YY and AMSW; data curation: YY, AMSW, and JTFL; validation: JTFL and AMSW; resources: JTFL; writing-original draft: YY, AMSW, and JTFL; writing—review and editing: YY, AMSW, YKW, JWYC, and JTFL; supervision: JTFL; funding acquisition: JTFL.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph T. F. Lau.

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Disclaimer

The funding source has no role in this study.

Ethics approval

The study was approved by the Survey and Behavioral Research Ethics Committee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (No. SBRE-20–554).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Yanqiu Yu and Anise M. S. Wu contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-first authors.

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Yu, Y., Wu, A.M.S., Wing, YK. et al. Validation of the Revised Illness Perception Questionnaire of Obstructive Sleep Apnea among Elderly Chinese in the General Population. Sleep Breath 27, 337–344 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-022-02598-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11325-022-02598-y

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