Elsevier

Sleep Medicine

Volume 6, Issue 4, July 2005, Pages 377-378
Sleep Medicine

Images in Sleep Medicine
Positional and non-positional obstructive sleep apnea patients

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2005.03.012Get rights and content

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Non-positional patient (NPP)

A 44-year-old man presented with excessive daytime sleepiness. His body mass index (BMI) was 32.8 and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) was 16. His wife described loud, continuous snoring and breathing pauses independent of sleep posture. His polysomnogram (PSG) revealed an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) =73.3. The supine and lateral AHI were 76.2 and 70.9, respectively. He was successfully treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) at 10 cm of H2O.

Positional patient (PP)

A 42-year-old man, complained about loud

Image analysis

Fig. 1, Fig. 2

Discussion

  • (1)

    Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) can be divided into Positional Patients (PP) i.e., patients with a supine AHI at least twice higher than the lateral AHI, and Non-Positional Patients (NPP), with a supine AHI not reaching double value of lateral AHI.

  • (2)

    In 574 consecutive OSA patients, 55.9% were PP [1]. PP have fewer and less severe breathing abnormalities than NPP. Consequently they sleep better and are less sleepy during daytime hours.

  • (3)

    The OSA severity of PP is totally dependent on the sleep time

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