Sleep Apnea

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Running head: SLEEP APNEA 1
Sleep Apnea
Shirley Neal
University of Detroit Mercy
SLEEP APNEA 2
Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is becoming a substantial health concern within the United States.
Approximately 22 million Americans have sleep apnea, and nearly 80 percent of the cases are
moderate to severe. Sleep apnea is an involuntary cessation of breathing for ten seconds or
longer that occurs while sleeping. There are three types of sleep apnea: obstructive, central, and
mixed ("A very short course," 2015).
Of the three types, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common. During sleep,
there is in recurrent collapse of the pharyngeal airway, which results in hypopnea or a complete
cessation of airflow (Erkert & Malhotra, 2008). This is usually caused by the tongue collapsing
against the soft palate, and the soft palate then collapses against the back of the throat while
sleeping, which causes obstruction of the air way ("A very short course," 2015).
In central sleep apnea, the airway is not blocked, but the brain fails to signal the muscles
to breathe. This condition can be idiopathic; however, it most often occurs in people with who
have problems with their brainstem, such as brain infections, stroke and conditions that involve
the cervical spine, heart failure, obesity, Parkinson’s disease, and opioid medications ("Central
sleep apnea," 2013). Mixed sleep apnea is as the name implies, the combination of obstructive
and central sleep apnea ("A very short course," 2015).
In most cases, the patients’ family or the patient themselves report snoring, stopping of
breathing or have irregular breathing patterns while sleeping. The most common clinical
manifestations of sleep apnea are complaints of excessive daytime drowsiness or chronic fatigue,
poor and restless sleep, difficulty with concentration, mood changes, and morning headaches
("The 3 types of sleep apnea," 2015).
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SLEEP APNEA 3
Left untreated, sleep apnea can cause an increase risk of comorbidities, including high
blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, obesity, heart failure, arrhythmias, depression, and
an increased risk to having a work related or driving accident ("What Is Sleep Apnea?," 2012). In
a recent study preformed by the Mayo Clinic, research showed an increase risk of developing an
ischemic stroke in people with OSA ("Obstructive sleep apnea," 2015). Although the exact
mechanism of how OSA causes strokes is uncertain, Dr. Lipford believes the connection could be
that when people sleep their systolic blood pressure normally drops 10 to 15 percent, in OSA this
does not happen ("What Is Sleep Apnea?," 2012). During an apneic episode, the body is exerting
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