Sleep Apnea Essay

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Epidemiology of sleep disturbances and vascular consequences

Obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can be defined as a transient cessation in breathing (apnea) or a reduction in breathing amplitude (hypopnea) as a result of collapsed or obstructed upper airway; both can cause notable arterial hypoxemia and hypercapnia. The apnea/hypoapnea index (AHI) categorizes OSA patients into three groups: mild (5-15), moderate (15-30) and severe (>30) whereas the number indicates the total number of apnea/hypoapnea episodes per hour of sleep {Badran et al., 2014, #73409}. Although many sleep clinics adopted this diagnostic tool, diagnostic variability remains {Caples et al., 2005, #48595}. AHI measures the frequency of disordered breathing events but does not quantify other processes involved in the pathophysiology of OSA, such as the degree of oxygen desaturation. For instance, the increasing length of apnea/hypoapnea events will likely increase oxygen desaturation events which is very stressful and have more severe pathological impact than shorter ones. Paradoxically, lengthening of apnea/hypoapnea events can lead to a decrease in AHI {Kulkas et al., 2013, #24356}. …show more content…

According to the Adult Obstructive Sleep Apnea Task Force of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. High-risk patients with nocturnal symptoms of OSA should undergo sleep testing, including obese, hypertensive, systolic or diastolic heart failure, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, stroke or transient ischemic attack and tachy or bradyarrhythmias. Full-night PSG is recommended for the diagnosis of sleep related breathing disorders but a split-night study could be an alternative {Epstein et al., 2009,

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