top of page

Sleep Apneoa

Obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome (OSAS) is a clinical syndrome marked by recurring episodes of upper airway (UA) obstruction that lead to markedly reduced (hypopnoea) or absent (apnoea) airflow at the nose/mouth. These episodes are usually accompanied by loud snoring and hypoxaemia, and are typically terminated by brief arousals, which result in marked sleep fragmentation and diminished amounts of slow-wave and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep .

It is worth mentioning here that Obstructive Sleep Apnoea is diffrent from Sleep Apnoea Syndrome. In OSAS , patients showed progressive bradycardia, followed by abrupt tachycardia on resumption of breathing on an overnight electrocardiographic test proving that autonomic nervous system has a significant part to play apart from hypoxia.

How to identify these patients ?

1.Patients typically present with a triad of symptoms: snoring, witnessed apnoea and daytime sleepiness, in addition to other clinical features.

2.While the gold-standard diagnosis is sleep laboratory-based polysomnography, increasing attention is being focused on limited cardiorespiratory studies, particularly in the home.

Facts :

#OSAS, with a prevalence of 4% in adults, represents the most common chronic respiratory disorder after asthma.

#The condition is fundamentally caused by an inability of the UA-dilating muscles to withstand the collapsing forces generated during inspiration.

#The most common physical morbidity of OSAS is cardiovascular disease, and successful therapy improves these outcomes.

Effects of OSAS on Heart : Seek medical attention early!

Symptomatic obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) has been proven to be a risk factor for hypertension and vascular dysfunction, and has been proposed to be causally related with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. This is of prime importance to people who think that these sympotoms may be temprorary and may be cured by some house remedies like nasal strips and adjusting and raising your pillow . If these symptoms seem fimiliar I would suggest referring a specialist rather than waiting too long . OSA and cardiac arrhythmias are inter-related and should give rise to intermittent hypoxia, increased oxidative stress leading to cardiac cellular damage and alteration in myocardial excitability with autonomic nervous system activation. Ultimately taking a toll on cardio-vascular system in long run.

Management and treatment options:

Treatment of patients with OSA with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) seems to reduce mortality from cerebral and myocardial events. CPAP may result in dramatic relief in moderate to mildly severe cases of OSA but for other instances there are more invasive methods , including surgeries .While tachycardic arrhythmias due to sympathetic activation can be prevented by ganglionated plexis ablation or autonomic blockade.

Where still others may be treated symtomatically since a lot of patients with COPD( Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) have been found to have OSA.


bottom of page