Pink Masks: Obstructive Sleep Apnoea and the Sociology of Diagnosis

Abstract

The sociology of diagnosis takes a new look at diagnostic categories, the means by which they are delivered, and the social consequences of diagnosis for patient and professional alike. Considering the social elements which contribute to the recognition of disease categories and their consequences highlights important phenomena which can enrich the thinking of nurses regardless of whether or not they diagnose as part of their practice. However, the principles of the sociology of diagnosis, while widely debated in academe, have yet to penetrate nursing literature. In this discussion article, we use obstructive sleep apnoea in women as an exemplar to illustrate how a clearly material, pathophysiological disorder has, nonetheless, significant social “content.” We demonstrate the social structures and interests which shape obstructive sleep apnoea as a male disease, and the risks, paradoxically, of both under- and over-diagnosis that arise from this social construction. We use this example to exhort nurses to consider how the social and the biological intermesh and shape how we perceive disease and its impact. This should open the door for more responsive and responsible health care.