Facts About Obstructive Sleep Apnea Osa

• Currently an estimated 51 million Americans have some degree of snoring or sleep apnea. Scientist project that the number will grow to one in five Americans who will be affected by 2020.
• Snoring can be a marker of sleep apnea.
• As many as 90% of people with OSA have not been diagnosed.
• Men with a neck size of 17 inches or greater and women with a neck size of 16 inches or greater are at a higher risk for sleep apnea.
• Untreated OSA results in decreased work productivity.
• Severe sleep apnea patients can stop breathing 40 or more times an hour.
• Weight gain can increase a person's chances of developing OSA.
• An individual with untreated apnea is up to four times more likely to have a stroke and 3 times more likely to have heart disease.
• Patients with untreated sleep apnea are twice as likely to have a heart attack than those who smoke.
• Patients with OSA are six times more likely to have a car crash than those without the disease. It is believed that an untreated sleep apnea patient is more dangerous than a drunk driver.
• Untreated OSA increases the risk of complications and even death from related chronic diseases such as stroke, heart disease, hypertension and diabetes.
• Studies have shown that the bed partners of OSA sufferers can lose up to one hour of sleep per night due to their partner's loud snoring and apneas.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), an organization involved with the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders, recommends oral appliances as a primary or first line of treatment for use in patients with primary snoring and indicated for use in patients with mild to moderate OSA. Patients should always be given a choice of and oral appliance (OA) or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) if they have mild to moderate OSA.