University Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, SAR, China.
Indian J Med Res. 2010 Feb;131:165-70.
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is increasingly being recognized as an important health issue in the last two to three decades. It is characterized by frequent episodes of upper airway collapse during sleep, causing recurrent arousals, intermittent hypoxaemia, sleep fragmentation and poor sleep quality. There is accumulating evidence that OSA is being considered as an independent risk factor for hypertension, glucose intolerance / diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases and stroke, leading to increased cardiometabolic morbidity and mortality. The prevalence rates of OSA have been estimated in the range of 2 to 10 per cent worldwide, and the risk factors for obstructive sleep apnoea include advanced age, male sex, obesity, family history, craniofacial abnormalities, smoking and alcohol consumption. The common clinical presenting symptoms are heavy snoring, witnessed apnoeas and daytime hypersomnolence, which would help to identify the affected individuals. With increasing awareness of this disease entity and associated complications in our society, there have been increased referrals to sleep physicians or expertise for further investigations and diagnostic evaluation. Early recognition and treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea may prevent from adverse health consequences. Some of the epidemiological aspects of obstructive sleep apnoea in adults are reviewed.
阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）在过去的二三十年中越来越被认为是一个重要的健康问题。其特征是睡眠期间上呼吸道频繁塌陷，导致反复觉醒、间歇性低氧血症、睡眠碎片化和睡眠质量差。越来越多的证据表明，OSA 被认为是高血压、葡萄糖耐量/糖尿病、心血管疾病和中风的独立危险因素，导致心血管代谢发病率和死亡率增加。OSA 的患病率估计在全球范围内为 2%至 10%，阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的危险因素包括年龄较大、男性、肥胖、家族史、颅面异常、吸烟和饮酒。常见的临床症状是打鼾、目击呼吸暂停和白天嗜睡，这有助于识别受影响的个体。随着人们对这种疾病及其相关并发症的认识不断提高，越来越多的人向睡眠医生或专家寻求进一步的调查和诊断评估。早期识别和治疗阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停可能会预防不良的健康后果。本文回顾了成人阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的一些流行病学方面。
