ABSTRACT
Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) includes snoring, upper airway resistance syndromes (UARS), mild, moderate, and severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and a myriad of chronic illness-related sleep disorders such as hypoventilation syndromes and Cheyne Stokes breathing. SDB is a common illness affecting 24% of adult males, 9% of adult females, and 10% of children (1). SDB is a morbid, mortal illness (2) causing bedroom disharmony, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) (3), poor work performance (4), poor home performance, increased accidents at home, at work, and on the highway (5-9), hypertension (10-14), heart attacks (15,16), heart failure (17), stroke, and death (18,19). SDB contributes to nocturia (20), decreased libido, attention deficit disorder (21,22), asthma (23), gastroesophageal reflux disease (24), stuttering, bruxism (25), nighttime retinal hemorrhage, and eclampsia (26,27).
