CPAPtalk.com

wading thru the muck! wrote:Why is everbody picking on G00fy? She's got her monsters to contend with while she's writting this poll.

Boy, did you ever have that Right Muckmeister! The monsters were bugging me when I was trying to make some sense out of this poll. Sorry Unclebob... They wanted to get on the computer while I was trying to come up with the ages, so I kinda just did the over 50 thing. Didn't mean to offend anyone.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to both Mike and Tater!!!

The idea behind this poll was to see when people actually found out they had apnea. I know I probably had it earlier in life, but just found out about it. So, I am in the category of 40 - 50 years of age. But, my son is only 17 years old and I really feel that he may have it, but the doc claims he doesn't. Does this make any sense?

G00fy,

We suspect our 17 year old son might be a candidate. The next time he is here for the weekwnd I may hook him up to my APAP for an overnight (shh! don't tell anyone). My wife went on a Girl Scout overnight with our 6 year old daughter and one of the other 6 year old girls snored so loud she kept the whole lodge full of people awake. This is why I've jumped on the bandwagon to find something better than a $2500 sleep study to determine if you have OSA. What are the chances you'll get your son's Doc to order a study and if he does, good luck getting your insurance to approve it. I bet you don't have a spare $2500 lying around to pay for it yourself (atleast I didn't see any piles of cash lying around when we came to visit ) Most people don't... this is my point!

Anonymous wrote:I am keen to know whether cpap users have reduced life expectancies.

I don't know, but my guess would be that they might have increased expectancies because the "non CPAP" population includes many undiagnosed and/or untreated apnea sufferers who have an increased chance of pulminary problems. Also, if you are on CPAP there is some implication that you are proactive with regard to your health.

I was diagnosed at 32. I'm 6'6" and 225 with a relatively low body fat percentage. I'm not your usual osa candidate.

Age now or when diagnosed?

I truly have hyad two dogs with Apnea, first a little snauzer and now a Skipperkee (sp) that both snore up a storm. Both very listless during the day. Both only three years old.

Most beagles will snore up a storm too. Supposedly because they have long soft palates from a slightly foreshortened face. Unfortunately, they show no signs of drowsiness during the day between naps. Boing, boing, off the wall, off the furniture, the bookcase, through the doggie door, in the crate out of the crate, up on the recliner, off, around the family room,on the sofa, bark at each other then everyone takes a nap, then they wake up and decide the sofa cushions need rearranging.

To keep this on topic, they are "human eqivalent" of 6 years old to 50 years old. I don't allow them to drive, however, so they are a danger only to the househould furnishings and themselves.

According to this article, the younger you are, the higher your mortality rate is (depending on your OSA severity of course).

Thought some may find interesting.

Young Men With Sleep Apnea at Increased Mortality Risk

By Karla Gale

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 03 - While most patients referred for sleep apnea evaluation are in their 50s, men in their 20s with sleep apnea run the highest mortality risk, an Israeli research team reports. "The implication is that we must diagnose patients while they're young, in their 20s and 30s, if we are to prevent mortality," Dr. Peretz Lavie told Reuters Health.

Dr. Lavie and colleagues at Technion-Israel Institut of Technology in Haifa examined the survival status of nearly 14,000 men ages 20 to 93 years evaluated between 1991 and 2000 at their clinic for possible sleep apnea. During a median follow-up of 4.6 years, there were 372 deaths.

Among those with a respiratory disturbance index (RDI) > 30, only men aged 20 to 29 years had a significantly higher mortality rate than their counterparts in the general population (relative mortality rate 5.84), the investigators report in the March issue of the European Respiratory Journal.

They team performed another analysis restricted to the 1,909 patients with severe sleep apnea (RDI > 50, median 73 respiratory events per hour of sleep), among whom 95 died during follow-up.

The relative mortality rate for those in their 20s was 9.8. For those 30 to 39 years and those 40-49 years, relative mortality rates were 3.12 and 1.89, respectively. Among those aged 50 and above, there was no excess mortality (p < 0.04 for trend).

Given these surprising results, Dr. Lavie said, "We believe there is an active adaptive mechanism, where some individuals are able to develop a coping mechanism that allows to them to live with this nightly insult of hypoxia and brief awakenings."

He noted that there are three high-risk groups that should probably undergo screening.

"First, young obese patients with a BMI of 31 or above -- this is the first target population, because the combination of severe apnea and obesity at this age is a killer."

Other targets are patients who have a parent with sleep apnea, whose risk is increased 10-fold, and those with young-onset hypertension.

To bring down the cost of screening, Dr. Lavie and his associates have developed a device, called the WatchPAT, comprised of sensors that are placed on the fingers at night. The device, which has been approved by the US FDA, measures oxygen saturation levels, vascular tone, and heart rate. A positive result would prompt a complete workup for obstructive sleep apnea.

Eur Respir J 2005;25:514-520.


Taken from Medscape.

G00fy217 wrote:Ok, Is there really a link to age and apnea? I think my son has it, but the doc doesn't think so..... says he's just a teenager. He also says most apnea patients are over 40 years old..... Is this really true? So, let's take a poll and see as for our forum, what is the average age of apnea patients?

You should push the doctor for a sleep study. I know I had OSA as a 19 year old, but being over 40 now, it was a long time ago and CPAP either wasn't invented yet or in its infancy as a technology and industry. The average age of CPAP patients now probably only reflects what doctors are currently looking for, and many of them have inaccurate myths in their minds about people who have OSA.

nobody wrote:

G00fy217 wrote:Ok, Is there really a link to age and apnea? I think my son has it, but the doc doesn't think so..... says he's just a teenager. He also says most apnea patients are over 40 years old..... Is this really true? So, let's take a poll and see as for our forum, what is the average age of apnea patients?

You should push the doctor for a sleep study. I know I had OSA as a 19 year old, but being over 40 now, it was a long time ago and CPAP either wasn't invented yet or in its infancy as a technology and industry. The average age of CPAP patients now probably only reflects what doctors are currently looking for, and many of them have inaccurate myths in their minds about people who have OSA.

This thread is over 6 years old!!! I would imagine he's had one by now.


Den

Hmmm, I see that now. I guess I should start checking dates on threads that pop up near the top of the list...

nobody wrote:Hmmm, I see that now. I guess I should start checking dates on threads that pop up near the top of the list...

It's all good. I just now voted in the poll.

I also just voted.

Me, too! Although I'm not quite sure what my average age is. If I'm 56, does that make my average age 28?

G00fy217 wrote:Ok, Is there really a link to age and apnea? I think my son has it, but the doc doesn't think so..... says he's just a teenager. He also says most apnea patients are over 40 years old..... Is this really true? So, let's take a poll and see as for our forum, what is the average age of apnea patients?

I was diagnosed in my early to mid 30s. I've used xPAP therapy for 20 years now. However, based on symptoms I am 99% certain I had sleep apnea when I was about 13 or 14 years old. My sister complained bitterly that I snored terribly. She complained that I would stop breathing "Just like Grand-dad". Based on how he snored and snorted during the night and his uncontrolled high blood pressure, I am certain he had sleep apnea. Have the doctor TEST. Not taking it seriously can ruin his health and lead to very early death.