Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a debilitating, often life-threatening condition that afflicts 18 million Americans or nearly 10 percent of the U.S. adult population. Obstructive Sleep Apnea is a sleep disorder in which a person's breathing stops during sleep in intervals that may last from 10 seconds to a minute or longer as a result of a collapsed airway that prevents air from getting to the lungs. These “apneic events,” which can occur as frequently as 60 times an hour or up to 400 times a night, disrupt healthy sleep and cause a number of short-term and long-lasting effects that threaten sufferers' health and well-being.
Normal
Breathing |
Obstructive
Sleep Apnea |
 |
 |
Airway is open
Air flows freely to
lungs
Brain rests |
Airway collapses
Airflow is blocked
Brain is kept on alert,
unable to effectively
rest |
During an apneic event, the lack of breathing results in low levels of oxygen. Low oxygen levels cause a disruption of sleep in order to open the airway. Once the airway is open, breathing then resumes often with a loud snort or gasp. Most obstructive sleep apnea sufferers do not realize that their sleep is disrupted many times during the night. The sleep disruptions or arousals are slight and sufferers become accustomed to them, but they affect the quality of sleep. Because of frequent arousals, Obstructive Sleep Apnea sufferers awaken feeling tired in the morning, which has a negative impact on concentration and daytime performance. A great many OSA sufferers go through a large part of their lives unaware of the severity of their condition or that there are effective sleep apnea treatments.
Long-Term Health Risks of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Research has shown a strong link between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and three of the top four leading causes of death: heart disease (where 60 percent of patients have OSA), stroke (where 70 percent of patients have OSA) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD (where 50 percent of patients have OSA). While the disruptions associated with OSA affect the lives of many, the long-term effects are even more alarming. Due to the stress obstructive sleep apnea places on the body, clinical evidence shows sufferers are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke. Obstructive Sleep Apnea accelerates the progression of blood-pressure levels and can even change blood pressures acutely. For instance, research has shown that 50 percent of obstructive sleep apnea sufferers have high blood pressure or hypertension. Hypertension, which affects one in every four American adults, can be directly linked to heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and heart failure.
According to a March 2004 report in the New England Journal of Medicine, however, targeted therapy using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) significantly reduces patients’ blood pressure and heart rate while significantly improving the daytime function of the heart.
Therapy compliance is critical, however. Untreated sleep apnea patients are three times more likely to have automobile incidents. In fact, according to a recent study conducted at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and published in the journal Sleep (May 2004), 980 lives could potentially be saved and $11.1 billion in automobile accident costs could be avoided if obstructive sleep apnea were successfully diagnosed and treated.
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