Obstructive sleep apnea

Overview

Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder. It causes you to repeatedly stop and start breathing while you sleep.

There are several types of sleep apnea, but the most common is obstructive sleep apnea. This type of apnea occurs when your throat muscles intermittently relax and block your airway during sleep. A noticeable sign of obstructive sleep apnea is snoring.

Treatments for obstructive sleep apnea are available. One treatment involves using a device that uses positive pressure to keep your airway open while you sleep. Another option is a mouthpiece to thrust your lower jaw forward during sleep. In some cases, surgery might be an option too.

Symptoms

Common obstructive sleep apnea warning signs include:

• Daytime sleepiness or fatigue
• Dry mouth or sore throat when you wake up
• Headaches in the morning
• Trouble concentrating, forgetfulness, depression, or crankiness
• Night sweats
• Restlessness during sleep
• Problems with sex, like a low sex drive
• Snoring
• Waking up suddenly and feeling like you're gasping or choking
• Trouble getting up in the mornings
• Waking up often in the middle of the night to pee
• High blood pressure
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)

If you share a bed with someone, they'll probably notice your sleep apnea before you do.

Symptoms in children may not be as clear. They may include:

• Bed-wetting
• Choking or drooling
• Sweating a lot at night
• Ribcage moves inward when they breathe out
• Learning and behavior problems
• Problems at school
• Sluggishness or sleepiness (often seen as laziness)
• Snoring
• Teeth grinding
• Restlessness in bed
• Breathing that pauses or stops

Unusual sleeping positions, such as sleeping on their hands and knees, or with their neck bent far back

Many other medical conditions can also cause these symptoms. Talk to your doctor to rule them out.

causes

The following are some conditions associated with OSA:

• obesity hypoventilation syndrome, a breathing disorder in people with obesity
• endocrine conditions, such as hypothyroidism, acromegaly, and polycystic ovary syndrome, which may affect your breathing when you’re asleep
• chronic lung disease, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pulmonary fibrosis
• neuromuscular conditions, such as a stroke, which can interfere with brain signals to your chest muscles and airway
• heart or kidney failure, which may cause fluid to build up in your neck and obstruct the upper airway
• pregnancy

DIAGNOSIS AND TESTS

If your doctor determines that you have symptoms suggestive of sleep apnea, you may be asked to have a sleep evaluation with a sleep specialist or may order an overnight sleep study to objectively evaluate for sleep apnea.

Testing includes an overnight sleep study called a polysomnogram (PSG). A PSG is performed in a sleep laboratory under the direct supervision of a trained technologist. During the test, a variety of body functions, such as the electrical activity of the brain, eye movements, muscle activity, heart rate, breathing patterns, air flow, and blood oxygen levels are recorded at night during sleep. After the study is completed, the number of times breathing is impaired during sleep is tallied and the severity of the sleep apnea is graded.

For adults, a Home Sleep Test (HST) can sometimes be performed instead. This is a modified type of sleep study that can be done in the comfort of home. It records fewer body functions than PSG, including airflow, breathing effort, blood oxygen levels and snoring to confirm a diagnosis of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea.

An HST is not appropriate to be used as a screening tool for patients without symptoms. It’s not used for patients with significant medical problems (such as heart failure, moderate to severe cardiac disease, neuromuscular disease or moderate to severe pulmonary disease). It’s also not used for patients who have other sleep disorders (such as central sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, parasomnias or narcolepsy) in addition to the suspected obstructive sleep apnea.

MANAGEMENT AND TREATMENT

Conservative treatments: In mild cases of obstructive sleep apnea, conservative therapy may be all that is needed.

Overweight persons can benefit from losing weight. Even a 10% weight loss can reduce the number of apneic events for most patients. However, losing weight can be difficult to do with untreated obstructive sleep apnea due to increased appetite and metabolism changes that can happen with obstructive sleep apnea.

Individuals with obstructive sleep apnea should avoid the use of alcohol and certain sleeping pills, which make the airway more likely to collapse during sleep and prolong the apneic periods.

In some patients with mild obstructive sleep apnea, breathing pauses occur only when they sleep on their backs. In such cases, using a wedge pillow or other devices that help them sleep in a side position may help.

People with sinus problems or nasal congestion should use nasal sprays or breathing strips to reduce snoring and improve airflow for more comfortable nighttime breathing. Avoiding sleep deprivation is important for all patients with sleep disorders.

Mechanical therapy: Positive Airway Pressure (PAP) therapy is the preferred initial treatment for most people with obstructive sleep apnea. With PAP therapy, patients wear a mask over their nose and/or mouth. An air blower gently forces air through the nose and/or mouth. The air pressure is adjusted so that it is just enough to prevent the upper airway tissues from collapsing during sleep. PAP therapy prevents airway closure while in use, but apnea episodes return when PAP is stopped or if it is used improperly. There are several styles, and types of positive airway pressure devices depending on specific needs of patients. Styles and types include:

CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) is the most widely used of the PAP devices. The machine is set at one single pressure.

Bi-Level PAP uses one pressure during inhalation (breathing in), and a lower pressure during exhalation (breathing out). There is a criterion that must be met before health insurance will cover the bi-level. This usually means that the CPAP machine must be tried first with no success and these results documented before insurance will pay for a bi-level.

Auto CPAP or Auto Bi-Level PAP uses a range of pressures that self-regulates during use depending on pressure requirements detected by the machine.

Adaptive Servo-Ventilation (ASV) is a type of non-invasive ventilation that is used for patients with central sleep apnea, which acts to keep the airway open and delivers a mandatory breath when needed.

Mandibular advancement devices: These are devices for patients with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea. Dental appliances or oral mandibular advancement devices that help to prevent the tongue from blocking the throat and/or advance the lower jaw forward can be made. These devices help keep the airway open during sleep. A sleep specialist and dentist (with expertise in oral appliances for this purpose) should jointly determine if this treatment is best for you.

Hypoglossal nerve stimulator: A stimulator is implanted under the skin on the right side of the chest with electrodes tunneled under the skin to the hypoglossal nerve in the neck and to intercostal muscles (between two ribs) in the chest. The device is turned on at bedtime with a remote control. With each breath, the hypoglossal nerve is stimulated, the tongue moves forward out of the airway and the airway is opened.

Surgery: Surgical procedures may help people with obstructive sleep apnea and others who snore but don’t have sleep apnea. Among the many types of surgeries done are outpatient procedures. Surgery is for people who have excessive or malformed tissue obstructing airflow through the nose or throat, such as a deviated nasal septum, markedly enlarged tonsils or small lower jaw with an overbite that causes the throat to be abnormally narrow. These procedures are typically performed after sleep apnea has failed to respond to conservative measures and a trial of CPAP. Types of surgery include:

Somnoplasty is a minimally invasive procedure that uses radiofrequency energy to reduce the soft tissue in the upper airway.

Tonsillectomy is a procedure that removes the tonsillar tissue in the back of the throat which is a common cause of obstruction in children with sleep apnea.

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) is a procedure that removes soft tissue on the back of the throat and palate, increasing the width of the airway at the throat opening.

Mandibular/maxillary advancement surgery is a surgical correction of certain facial abnormalities or throat obstructions that contribute to obstructive sleep apnea. This is an invasive procedure that is reserved for patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea with head-face abnormalities.

Nasal surgery includes correction of nasal obstructions, such as a deviated septum.