ABSTRACT
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has become an increasingly recognized reason for daytime sleepiness. Snoring, a common human experience, and associated apneic spells have only become associated with pathology in the last half century of medicine. One of the earliest described characters in English literature, with typical symptoms of obesity, snoring and sleepiness, is “Fat Joe” in Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers. Likely intended as a caricature, he is a prime, though extreme, example of a patient with possible OSA or obesity-hypoventilation.
