If you or your loved ones are suffering from sleep apnea, we recommend that you read on for information on the relationship between central sleep apnea and its associated with death and other complications.

 

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Introduction

Obstructive sleep apnea is actually a very serious and potentially life-threatening disorder which Occurs in sleep When doctors use the term apnea, they mean respiratory failure. In obstructive sleep apnea, a person suffers from multiple respiratory arrests during sleep. Intermittent breathing returns and the person suffers from sleep apnea.

If you or those around you have loud snoring or if you are a person who feels tired even after a good night’s sleep

And you think that you have not slept enough. You may have sleep apnea, so it is recommended that after reading this article and getting enough information about sleep apnea, which can be fatal, see a doctor and check the problem.

 

What is the definition of sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea is actually a life-threatening disorder.

This is a serious sleep disorder in which a person’s breathing is intermittently interrupted. It is recommended that people who have loud snoring, as well as people who are tired and lack energy, despite having enough sleep and the day after a night’s sleep, be sure to see a doctor to check for this disorder. There are different types of sleep apnea.

In fact, the most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea. This disorder occurs as the most common type of sleep apnea occurs when the muscles of the throat are involved.

 

What are the main types of sleep apnea?

There are three main types that doctors describe as follows:

  1. The first type

The most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea, which occurs when the throat muscles of a person are relaxed.

 

  1. The second type

It happens when the brain does not send the proper signals and messages that it used to send to control your respiratory muscles for other reasons, so in central apnea, it is difficult to control the person’s respiratory muscles.

 

  1. The third type

When we say that a person has complex sleep apnea, he has both obstructive and central sleep apnea.

That is, people with both obstructive sleep apnea and central apnea are considered to be people with complex apnea syndrome.

 

Epidemiology

According to reliable statistics, on average, one out of every three people suffers from moderate to severe sleep apnea. It is also estimated that one in ten adults will suffer from severe sleep apnea.

It is said that the prevalence of sleep apnea can be different in men and women. Men suffer from sleep apnea ten times more often than women. People with this type of apnea are not usually diagnosed.

The age of onset and prevalence of this disorder is around forty to seventy years old and in the ages of thirty-five to sixty years, the prevalence is seven to twenty percent.

Regarding central sleep apnea, we must say that this type of apnea is uncommon in its isolated and solitary form and in less than ten percent of people who present with sleep apnea disorder.

 

This type of disorder is diagnosed. If we want to provide statistics on this type of apnea in the general population, we must say that the prevalence of central sleep apnea is less than one percent in the total population. Twenty-five to forty percent of people who are referred to sleep clinics with sleep disorders are said to have some form of sleep apnea.

 

What are the symptoms and manifestations of sleep apnea?

We said above that there are three different types of sleep apnea. However, we should know that the clinical signs and manifestations of obstructive sleep apnea and central apnea will overlap in many cases.

Which sometimes make clinical diagnosis difficult for physicians. We must say that the most common symptoms and manifestations of obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea are as follows:

Loud snoring is very common. This symptom is more common in sleep apneas that are obstructive or have a combination of obstructive and central.

The next sign is a temporary cessation of breathing in sleep. This symptom is not noticed by the affected person and usually another person who sleeps next to the affected person, including his spouse or partner, will notice this symptom.

Shortness of breath and sudden awakening of a person with shortness of breath are very common manifestations of a person with central sleep apnea.

Doctors say the condition may indicate central apnea.

Affected people wake up with a dry mouth in the morning or usually have a sore throat when they wake up in the morning.

Affected person suffers from insomnia and sleep problems. In other words, night sleep.

To compensate for nighttime insomnia, the sufferer may oversleep during the day.

The sufferer usually suffers from annoying headaches in the morning.

The sufferer will have many problems and disorders in focusing and paying attention during the day on work and education issues.

The sufferer suffers from irritability.

 

What causes sleep apnea?

Causes of central apnea:

Central apnea is less common, and central apnea generally occurs when a person’s brain is unable to send signals, messages, and instructions to the person’s respiratory muscles.

This causes the sufferer to be unable to breathe for a short time. Usually, the person with the central type of the disorder wakes up with shortness of breath, or due to the above problems, may suffer from insomnia for a long time and does not fall asleep.

One of the criteria that doctors consider to diagnose this type of disorder is central sleep apnea is that , there is a pause of more than or equal to ten seconds in a person’s breathing. Occurrence of more than five attacks of respiratory arrest similar to the above definition per hour is considered abnormal.

The causes that can lead to this type of central disorder are:

Problems that affect the brainstem, such as brain infections or conditions that can cause damage to the cervical spinal cord.

This pattern of breathing affects people who usually have severe heart failure and can be accompanied by central sleep apnea.

Other causes of central sleep apnea in humans include the use of certain drugs that contain narcotics.

For example, many painkillers that contain narcotics can cause central apnea in susceptible individuals and also in case of overdose.

Reliable studies show that central sleep apnea accounts for less than 10 percent of all people referred to sleep clinics with sleep disorders.

 

Causes of obstructive sleep apnea:

It is better to give a brief explanation about the causes of obstructive type.

Obstructive type occurs when the muscles behind the throat relax. These muscles support the soft palate, tonsils, the side walls of the throat, and the tongue.

If these muscles become relaxed, the airways, which are actually called the upper airways, will overlap and become narrow or closed during respiration, and the person will not be able to breathe enough. This is how the level of oxygen in the blood decreases. When this happens, it means that the level of oxygen in your blood decreases.

The brain realizes this problem and wakes you up to open the airways. These awakenings are very short-lived and in most cases the person will not remember them. The sufferer snores during these frequent breathing pauses or may make other sounds. It is said that this pattern can be repeated five or three times every hour during your entire night’s sleep.

When this cycle is repeated, for example five to three times per hour, you experience shortness of breath and short awakenings. These disorders generally reduce your ability to reach a deep sleep phase and actually wake up during sleep hours or lose your proper sleep.

These people may not notice their nocturnal awakenings and when they want to give a history to the doctor, they think that they have rested well all night without waking up, while as we said above, this will not be the case, so what we said in this section is about the obstructive form of apnea.

 

What are the risk factors for sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea can affect anyone, even children, but it is said that there are certain factors that increase the risk in people.

The risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea are as follows:

Doctors say people who are overweight ,Compared to normal people with normal weight, are four times more at risk for sleep apnea, although obstructive sleep apnea. Accumulation of fat around the upper airways of obese people can cause breathing problems, but it is interesting to note that not all people with sleep apnea are necessarily overweight.

People with thick necks are said to have narrower airways If men are seventeen inches around their necks, forty-three centimeters and larger, and women, if their neck circumference is fifteen inches, thirty-eight centimeters or more, the risk will be higher.

A person’s throat may be naturally and inherently narrow

Or the person’s tonsils may be large and block the passage of air. These are common in children with sleep apnea.

Doctors say that men are more likely than women to suffer from sleep apnea, but we should know that women are more prone to this disorder if they are overweight and also after menopause.

People with a family history of sleep apnea have a higher risk of developing it.

Statistics show that smokers are three times more likely to have obstructive sleep apnea than people who have never smoked.

It is said that if a person suffers from nasal congestion for some reason, both structurally and anatomically, or because of an allergy, than a healthy person, he or she is more likely to develop obstructive sleep apnea.

 

What are the side effects of central sleep apnea?

Also, the spouse or partner of a person with respiratory failure is deprived of adequate and quality sleep due to snoring and sleep problems.

As you can see, having sleep apnea can increase the risk of heart problems and increase the risk of heart attack and therefore death, so it can be said that sleep apnea, in turn, has the potential to be life threatening.

Therefore, it is necessary for any person who suspects that he or his partner has this disorder to see a doctor as soon as possible for a diagnosis and treatment.

 

Is it possible for a person to die due to sleep apnea?

In answer to this question, reputable study societies and colleges study in the field of cardiology and neurology say

People with respiratory failure are at a higher risk of dying from heart problems. This comparison has been made between people who have had sleep apnea and those who have not, and studies show that sleep apnea can increase the risk of sudden death following heart problems In other words, it is said to have the highest probability of sudden death following a heart attack.

 

Diagnosis and treatment

When a person sees a doctor with a complaint of snoring and one or more of the above manifestations and symptoms, the doctor begins his or her assessments based on the history and symptoms provided by the person.

These assessments include 24-hour monitoring of breathing and activities of the other organs during sleep. This is called a sleep test.

A home sleep test may also be an option by your doctor. Here are some diagnostic tests for sleep apnea and a brief description.

 

First

During this test, special equipment is attached to the affected person, which records the activity of the heart, lungs, and brain. Breathing patterns, as well as hand movements and arterial oxygen levels in the sleeping person, are completely controlled, evaluated, and recorded.

 

The second test

Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, your doctor may recommend a simple test to diagnose sleep apnea that you are required to perform at home. These tests usually include a set of assessments. Including

If you have trouble breathing during sleep, the results of these tests certainly show a decrease in arterial oxygen levels during sleep at night.

When you wake up, this oxygen level rises. If the results are abnormal, the doctor may start treatment without feeling the need for other tests.

Portable monitoring devices that allow you to perform sleep tests at home.They can not diagnose all cases of respiratory failure, so you may have respiratory failure, but with a sleep test at home, the test result is normal.

If you are diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, your treatment team will probably refer you to an ear, nose and throat specialist.

If your sleep apnea is centralized, you will be referred to a cardiologist or neurologist.

TREATMENT

If you have a mild form of sleep apnea, your doctor will probably only recommend that you adjust your lifestyle, such as balancing your weight. Quit smoking and drinking alcohol. And if you have a nasal allergy, treat it. If you do not improve your symptoms or if your sleep apnea is moderate to severe from the beginning, other treatments will be necessary. These treatments can include some types. The devices are said to be able to open airways that become blocked due to loosening of the throat and throat muscles.

Also, in more severe cases, surgery may be required. Among the treatments that can be performed for the obstructive form are the following:

Of course, we must say that the available ways to treat and manage central and complex sleep apnea are as follows:

 

How to prevent sleep apnea?

By making a few changes in our lifestyle, we can prevent this disorder, which can potentially be associated with death. These include the following: