ABSTRACT
Disorders of breathing during sleep constitute an important health problem with significant morbidity and excessive mortality (1-3). Common consequences of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) vary from nocturnal hypoxemia, sleep fragmentation, impaired daytime vigilance or excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), cognitive dysfunction (4-7) to increased morbidity and mortality (8) from complications secondary to arterial and/or pulmonary hypertension, arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, stroke, and motor vehicle and industrial accidents (7,9-11).
