Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep-related breathing disorder that involves a decrease or complete halt in  airflow despite an ongoing effort  to breathe. It occurs when the muscles relax during sleep, causing soft tissue  in the back of the throat to collapse and block the upper airway. This leads to partial reductions (hypopneas) and complete pauses (apneas) in breathing that last at least 10 seconds during sleep. Most pauses last between 10 and 30 seconds, but some  may persist for  one minute or longer. This can lead to abrupt reductions in blood oxygen saturation,  with oxygen levels falling as much as 40 percent or more in severe cases.  The brain responds to the lack of oxygen by alerting the  body, causing a brief arousal from  sleep that restores normal breathing. This pattern can occur hundreds of times in one night. The result is a fragmented quality  of sleep that often produces an excessive level of daytime sleepiness.  Most people with OSA snore loudly and frequently, with periods of  silence when airflow is reduced or blocked. They then make choking, snorting or gasping sounds when their airway reopens.  A common measurement of sleep apnea is the  apnea-hypopnea index  (AHI). This is an average that represents the combined number of apneas and hypopneas that occur per hour of sleep.  Prevalence •  OSA can occur in any ager group, but prevalence increases between middle and older age. •  OSA with resulting daytime sleepiness occurs  in at least four  percent of men and two percent of women •  About 24 percent of men and nine percent of women have the breathing symptoms of OSA with or without daytime sleepiness. •  About 80 percent to 90 percent of adults with OSA remain undiagnosed. •  OSA occurs in about two percent of children and is most common at preschool ages.