ABSTRACT
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition of cyclical or repetitive obstructions of the upper airway during sleep, with micro-arousals occurring at the termination of a respiratory event (1,2). In adults, micro-arousal activity has been postulated to disrupt the normal restorative processes of sleep and has been demonstrated to produce sleepiness and/or daytime performance deficits when induced by various sensory stimuli in normal subjects (3,4). In addition to nonrestorative sleep, OSA has been found to have a strong association with cardiovascular disease (5), including hypertension (6), congestive heart failure (7), cardiac arrhythmias (8), coronary artery disease (9), and stroke (10).
