Effects of age on sleep apnea in men. I. Prevalence and severity

The effects of age on the prevalence of sleep apnea in the general population remain unclear, because previous studies have focused on specific populations. The effects of age on the severity of apnea are unknown. This study was based on a two-stage general random sample of men (aged 20 to 100 yr), consisting of a telephone survey (n = 4,364) and a sleep laboratory evaluation of a survey subsample (n = 741). Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), based on both sleep laboratory and clinical criteria (apnea/hypopnea index [AHI] ⩾ 10 and the presence of daytime symptoms) was found in 3.3% of the sample, with its maximum prevalence in the middle age group (45 to 64 yr). Also, based solely on laboratory criteria, the prevalence of OSA (obstructive AHI ⩾ 20) showed an age distribution similar to that of OSA diagnosed by laboratory and clinical criteria. The prevalence of any type of sleep apnea (central and obstructive) increased monotonically with age. However, central apnea appeared to account for this monotonic rela...