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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2012; 02(01): 3-8
DOI: 10.4103/2231-0770.94803
REVIEW ARTICLE

Obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome: Etiology and diagnosis

Abdul Ghani Sankri-Tarbichi
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Wayne State University- School of Medicine, John D. Dingell VA Medical Center and Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, USA
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Abstract

Sleep disordered breathing is a common chronic condition in the general population. This review will highlight the prevalence of different types of sleep apnea in general and obstructive type in particular in the United States and Middle East. Despite the extensive research studies on the sleep apnea pathogenesis, the exact mechanism is not well known. Obesity, however, is the leading risk factor to upper airway narrowing and obstruction and main contributor to the escalating prevalence of morbidity worldwide including the Arab countries. Due to the serious consequences of the untreated sleep disordered breathing, this article will emphasize on the importance of early recognition, key clinical manifestations, and how to treat and prevent the disease.

Keywords

Apnea - breathing - sleep


Publication History

Article published online:
09 August 2021

© 2012. Syrian American Medical Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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