Covers sleep apnoea as a disorder of repeated paused or shallow breathing during sleep, then sets out its three types: obstructive, central and mixed. Predisposing factors are listed separately for obstructive and central forms, followed by the carbon dioxide and arousal mechanism, the symptoms, and diagnosis by clinical evaluation, polysomnography and home studies. It closes with severity grades based on the apnoea-hypopnoea index.
Topic 11 of 88 in the MU Sofia syllabus for Internal Diseases (Dental Medicine, Year 4). The free AceMed note covers it in 8 sections, about 376 words (3 min of reading), with 12 flashcards.
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Sleep Apnoea
Definition
Classification:
Predisposing Factors:
Mechanism:
Symptoms:
Diagnosis:
Severity classification (based on Apnoea-Hypopnoea Index - AHI):
Definition
Sleep apnoea is a sleep disorder characterized by repeated episodes of paused (apnoea) or shallow breathing (hypopnoea) during sleep. These interruptions may last from a few seconds to minutes and can occur dozens to hundreds of times a night. Most commonly, it is associated with loud snoring, and as normal breathing resumes, patients may make choking or gasping sounds.
Classification:
1. Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) – Most common type
Caused by partial or complete obstruction of the upper airway during sleep.
Breathing effort is present but ineffective due to the blockage.
Often leads to intermittent hypoxia and fragmented sleep.
2. Central Sleep Apnoea (CSA)
Results from a failure in the brain's respiratory control centers to send proper signals to the breathing muscles.
No respiratory effort is made during the pause.
Commonly seen in older adults and those with heart conditions or neurological disease.
3. Mixed Type
Features of both OSA and CSA.
Begins as central apnoea but ends with obstruction.
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