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soft palate
Feb
19
2009
This entry was posted by admin on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 1:01 pm (UTC), and is categorically filed in Sleep Apnea, Top News.
A video imaging technique demonstrates that the soft palate, the tissue at the back of the roof of the mouth, is more elongated and angled in patients with obstructive sleep apnea both when they sleep and when they are awake, according to a recently published report.
“Obstructive sleep apnea is a common form of sleep-breathing disorder characterized by repetitive episodes of partial or complete upper airway obstruction,” the authors wrote in the article. The condition usually causes breaks in sleeping, reduced blood oxygen levels and daytime sleepiness, and may contribute to cognitive (thinking, learning and memory) difficulties, psychosocial impairments, trouble driving, heart disease and death.
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In the first study to use continuous measurements of blood pressure during overnight sleep, a research abstract presented at Sleep 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) finds that all severities of sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD) in children are associated with elevated blood pressure during sleep compared with non-snoring control children.
The study, authored by Rosemary Horne, PhD, of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, focused on 88 children between seven and 13 years of age, including 68 referred for the assessment of SRBD and 20 non-snoring controls.
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Got memory problems? If you suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, your brain could be to blame. UCLA researchers have discovered that people with sleep apnea show tissue loss in brain centers that help store memory.
Reported in the June 27 edition of the journal Neuroscience Letters, the findings emphasize the importance of early detection of the disorder, which afflicts an estimated 20 million Americans.
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Interesting Apnea Statistics
~~ Apnea in United States ~~
As of May 2, 2009 at 9:47 p.m. (-0500) (ET), the U.S. population
was 306,340,710. Sleep researchers estimate approximately seven percent
of the population suffers from obstructive sleep apnea. Using that
estimate, there are potentially 21,443,850 apneics in the U.S.
~~ Apnea around the world ~~
As of May 2, 2009 at 9:47 p.m. (-0500) (ET), the world population
was 6,777,286,604. Sleep researchers estimate approximately seven percent
of the population suffers from obstructive sleep apnea. Using that
estimate, there are potentially 474,410,062 apneics in the world.
