Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: A Case Study

Sleep apnea is a common sleeping disorder where a person has experiences of not breathing during sleep. Over 20 million Americans, mostly overweight men, suffer from sleep apnea. Despite these numbers, sleep apnea is often not treated directly because its symptoms are thought to be those of depression, stress, or just loud snoring. There may be a genetic component to this disorder as it often occurs within families.People with sleep apnea stop breathing for at least 10 seconds at a time; these short stops in breathing can happen up to 400 times every night.

The population who are diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) often experience daytime drowsiness and are at risk for ischemic heart disease, arrhythmias, hypertension, and other vascular related problems (Hsu et al., 2007). There are several treatment options for people with OSA, which are weight loss, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), dental appliances, and surgical procedure. This study evaluates patients who have

Although obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is known to be a common form of sleep-disordered breathing and increase the overall risk of mortality by one and a half times in serious cases, many patients with OSA remain undiagnosed and unrecognized by healthcare professionals (Stuart et al, 2013). Depending on the source, up to approximately 10% of women and 25% of men have OSA, while the overall prevalence of OSA in the general population is between 3% and 7%. OSA is more common in individuals who are obese, older, male, African American or of Pacific Island descent, have a family history of OSA, or have a large neck size/small airway. Patients with OSA have been shown to have a higher incidence of significant systemic conditions such as hypertension, cerebrovascular accident, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, diabetes, and dementia. Some of the eye problems linked to OSA include glaucoma/other optic neuropathies, retinal vein occlusions, central serous retinopathy (CSR), papilledema/idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), floppy eyelid syndrome (FES), and corneal disorders (i.e. keratoconus). This provides optometrists and ophthalmologists with a tremendous opportunity to play an important role in diagnosing and managing patients with OSA as well as improving their quality of life.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a major health problem, as more than 22 million adults in the U.S suffer from OSA.1 The prevalence of moderate to severe OSA in older adults aged 65 and over is twice as high as that in middle-aged adults.2 Unfortunately, estimates suggest that 85% of individuals with moderate to severe OSA remain undiagnosed.3 Individuals with untreated moderate to severe OSA are at a greater risk for depression (DEP), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia compared to individuals with no OSA. In OSA, repetitive intracranial blood flow surges during apneic episodes cause disturbances in microvascular functions, resulting in hypoperfusion4-6 and poor cerebral vasomotor reactivity.7-9 Hypoxemia promotes the development of cerebral small vessel disease (C-SVD).10-13 Repeated rapid alternations between hypoxia and reoxygenation cause oxidative stress,14,15 which alters blood-brain barrier functions and leads to the formation of C-SVD.16-18 The consequences of C-SVD are 1) disruption of neuronal activity in regions involved in the regulation of mood and cognition 11,19,20 and 2) reduction of prefrontal and frontal lobe vascular perfusion,10,21-23 which causes neuronal metabolic deficiencies that may lead to synaptic loss and neuronal damage.24,25 The progression of C-SVD is now known to be associated with new-onset depression,26 MCI,27,28 and an increased risk for dementia.27,29,30 Based on this supporting evidence, we hypothesize that C-SVD may mediate

In addition, the person lacks the sleep needed to function properly throughout the day. This may bring about fatigue, accidents at work, car accidents and more. Individuals with high blood pressure may find their condition worsens if they suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, and those with diabetes find they are more at risk of this condition. People who are overweight are more at risk of sleep apnea, and this condition makes it harder to lose the weight. These are only a few of the many dangers associated with this condition, thus treatment needs to be sought in a timely

The two most common causes of sleep disorder is central and obstructive sleep apnea. Central sleep apnea is when our breathing is interrupted throughout the night because your brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs with blocked airways and your struggle to breathe triggers coughing or snoring – in actuality your body is grasping for air.

Do you get elbowed, and told to roll over in the middle of the night? Do you wake up in the morning exhausted? It’s possible that you could have a severe and potentially fatal disorder called Obstructive Sleep Apnea. OSA can affect anyone; from infants to adults, the healthy and physically fit, and the obese.

There is no consensus regarding the mechanism of manifestation of neurocognitive consequences associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and their definite underlying process is unknown.1 However, there are some findings and theories about it. In OSA, there are different levels of hypoxia, which are associated with many factors such as obesity and severity of upper airway obstruction.1

Thank you very much for referring Neil along for further investigation of likely obstructive sleep apnoea. As you are aware, his wife who I work with at Warringal has been noticing witnessed apnoeas for many years now and has talked Neil into coming along today. Neil in himself sleeps reasonably well and is currently going to bed at around 10.00pm. He will awake between 2.00am and 4.00am and be awake for a short amount of time but will then fall back to sleep until about 7.30am or 8.00am. He wakes reasonably refreshed but of note does have some drowsiness in the afternoon. He will occasionally have an afternoon nap and quite regularly falls asleep on the couch at night. He has been retired for the last 18 months, but prior to that, he

Sleep apnea is a chronic disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. It leads to snoring, fatigue and interruptions of oxygen flowing through the body. The need for life insurance varies with age, responsibilities and your health. Life insurance policies become valuable financial resources for maintaining a standard of life. Policies are designed to provide a fixed amount of money according the policy terms and conditions to helping families avoid hardships. Life insurance policies can include the insurer’s ability to draw against the face value of the policy in the event of an illness. In the case of having sleep apnea, the insurer becomes the beneficiary of the policy value. There are also instances, where the policy also functions as a secondary health coverage, should the primarily carrier deny the medical claim.

Sleep apnea has many different possible causes. In adults, the most common cause of OSA is obesity, which is associated with soft tissue of the throat and mouth. With adults there are many other factors associated with the condition. In children, causes of obstructive sleep apnea often include enlarged tonsils or adenoids and dental conditions such as a large overbite. Some of the less common causes include a tumor or growth in the airway, and birth defects such as Down syndrome and Pierre-Robin syndrome (Jensen). No matter the age, if OSA goes untreated for too long it can lead to serious complications, including accidents, cardiovascular disease, premature death. If you are experiencing any signs and symptoms related to obstructive sleep

One issue faced daily in primary care is the incidence of hypertension. This disease impacts approximately 25% of the adult population in the world. Risk factors for hypertension include genetics, poor diet, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and other disease processes. In addition, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been recognized as an additional risk factor in the development of hypertension according to European and US guidelines (Pepin et al, 2014). According to Ohio State physicians Magalang and Valentine, (2015), there are possibly ten million people who have resistant hypertension, and most of those have OSA. In contrast, the National Sleep Foundation explains that sleep apnea affects more than 18 million people (Sleepapnea.org, n.d.). These numbers are staggering. A diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea increases a patient’s chances of developing hypertension. With this information in mind, it is prudent to recognize the correlation between treating obstructive sleep apnea with CPAP therapy and the benefits of this therapy in regards to blood pressure.

Sudden drops in blood oxygen levels that occur during sleep apnea increase blood pressure and strain the cardiovascular system. About half the people with sleep apnea develop high blood pressure (hypertension), which raises the risk of heart failure and stroke. The more severe the obstructive sleep apnea, the greater the risk of high blood pressure. Patients with sleep apnea are much more likely to develop abnormal heart rhythms such as atrial fibrillation. If there’s underlying heart disease, these repeated multiple episodes of low blood oxygen (hypoxia or hypoxemia) can lead to sudden death from a cardiac

Skomro, R. and Kryger, M. (1999). Clinical presentations of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 41(5), pp.331-340.

Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with cognitive decline and depression. This is the first study explicitly evaluating the impact of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on neurocognitive functions and changes in brain morphology in older adults with both depression and cognitive impairment. Under the mentorship of Dr. D.P Devanand, I prospectively screened OSA with the STOP-Bang questionnaire in patients enrolled into the Donepezil Treatment of Cognitive Impairment and Depression (DOTCODE) trial. High and low probability of OSA were defined as a STOP-Bang score of ≥5 (h-OSA) and of <5 (l-OSA), respectively. Baseline magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to evaluate brain morphology. The initial 16 weeks of antidepressant treatment were part