How much weight gain affects the severity of SA?

I am 54, 5'9" and weigh 175 lbs. According to the BMI scale, I am just slightly overweight for my size (although I've heard of an updated BMI that is more forgiving).

13 years ago I weighed 165 lbs and was diagnosed with mild SA. Last year, with my weight at 175, I was diagnosed with moderate SA.

Can that added 10 pounds over the course of 13 years cause my SA to get worse?

I would just like to go on record saying the BMI is a bunch of BS. I'm 1/2 inch taller than you and in my prime years of track and field weighed around 170, anything less and I would have looked emaciated.

I cannot imagine 10 pounds would make any difference at that weight range. Now if you got up to like 230 then we're talking a different story.

I don't think BMI is an accurate predictor of OSA. It may be a minor factor but many other things will also be involved. Muscle tone and age are two additional factors and I am sure others can chime in with more information.

bwexler wrote:I don't think BMI is an accurate predictor of OSA. It may be a minor factor but many other things will also be involved. Muscle tone and age are two additional factors and I am sure others can chime in with more information.

BMI is complete hogwash, as you point out, because it is blind to body composition.

many of the olympic medalists were either overweight or obese going by BMI.

a much better indicator of fitness is the waist/height ratio.

I think there is a lot of individual difference in how weight loss or gain affects this. I lost
about 15% of my weight and my sleep apnia was the same - same pressure neaded and
same AHI . On the other hand a friend of mine who was about 205 lbs lost 70 lbs and
had to have her cpap set to a higher pressure ! But I saw one study saying that a 10% loss
in body weight usually reduced AHI by ~ 10% about the same average reduction you get
from 3 to 5 30min. aerobic exercise periods a week even if you don't lose weight doing the
exercise.

Woody wrote:But I saw one study saying that a 10% loss in body weight usually reduced AHI by ~ 10%

AHI != pressure needs.

That's a good question. I do believe that weight worsens OSA, but I think there's an enormous amount of variation from person to person. One thing person may have bad apnea, and a very fat person may have none. Some people find weight loss (or gain) changes their AHI/pressure, and another may find it has none.

Even if you had an "average AHI/pressure to BMI" chart, it wouldn't mean much per individual. It probably doesn't have a lot of predictive value.

It would be interesting to see a statistical study with charts of AHI/pressure vs. BMI, height, age, weight, jaw or throat measurements, neck size, race, exercise levels, smoking, etc. It would be really interesting to see if there was some sort of grand estimator that takes a bunch of contributing factors and did an average AHI/pressure for those inputs and see how well it compares to real world results.

I doubt we'll ever see such a study, though.

Woody wrote: But I saw one study saying that a 10% loss
in body weight usually reduced AHI by ~ 10% about the same average reduction you get
from 3 to 5 30min. aerobic exercise periods a week even if you don't lose weight doing the
exercise.

A 10% change in AHI seems to me that it would be lost in the statistical noise of AHI results. AHI just isn't very constant in a particular patient. You'd need to do a really large study and some really heavy analysis to have confidence in the meaningfulness of that result. It's also obviously not going to be a double blind study.

archangle wrote:and another may find it has none.

This little piggy had roast beef.

archangle wrote:That's a good question. I do believe that weight worsens OSA, but I think there's an enormous amount of variation from person to person. One thing person may have bad apnea, and a very fat person may have none. Some people find weight loss (or gain) changes their AHI/pressure, and another may find it has none.

Even if you had an "average AHI/pressure to BMI" chart, it wouldn't mean much per individual. It probably doesn't have a lot of predictive value.

It would be interesting to see a statistical study with charts of AHI/pressure vs. BMI, height, age, weight, jaw or throat measurements, neck size, race, exercise levels, smoking, etc. It would be really interesting to see if there was some sort of grand estimator that takes a bunch of contributing factors and did an average AHI/pressure for those inputs and see how well it compares to real world results.

I doubt we'll ever see such a study, though.

Maybe it's because those of us with SA are more interested in the cause and effect of the condition than those who are treating us. I've been fortunate in that I've never had to deal with a medical provider for treatment and equipment on a continuing basis until now and based on the anecdotes I've read here, I sometimes think the industry is more interested in selling us stuff than actually treating us.

Personally speaking I don't have too many complaints after 3+ months of treatment but I can certainly see how people can be frustrated by a system that can be impersonal and too profit driven.

novatom wrote:Can that added 10 pounds over the course of 13 years cause my SA to get worse?

Hi,

The 13 years of additional age might have just as much or more to do with it than 10 pounds of weight. Your chances of having sleep apnea increase with age, and the severity can also increase. It is also possible that you have an airway that is a little saggy, and those 10 pounds added just enough to make it worse. Everyone is different, so it is very hard to tell.

-john-