Impact of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Its Treatments on Partners: A Literature Review

Abstract

Study Objectives: Many adults sleep with a significant other; thus, sleep disorder symptoms and treatments of one partner are likely to impact the other partner's health. A literature review was conducted to examine the impact of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and OSA treatments on partner-assessed sleep and daytime functioning and partner involvement in OSA treatment. Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL searches yielded 38 pertinent quantitative and qualitative studies that described sleep and/or daytime functioning assessed in partners of patients with untreated OSA, sleep and/or daytime functioning assessed in partners who were referred for OSA treatment, including continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, oral appliance (OA), or surgery, and/or associations between partner involvement and OSA treatment use. Results:The majority of studies found untreated OSA to have a negative impact on partners' objective and subjective sleep and daytime functioning, in particular mood, quality of life, and relationship quality. Improvements in partner-assessed sleep quality were reported for CPAP, OA, and surgery. Conflicting results were reported for partners' mood, quality of life, daytime sleepiness, and relationship quality. Perceived partner support was associated with greater CPAP use. Conclusions: Symptoms associated with OSA can negatively impact partners' sleep and daytime functioning. Treatment of OSA with CPAP, OA, or surgery can have health benefits for not only patients but also partners. Collaborative partner involvement may be a useful strategy for interventions promoting CPAP adherence. Keywords: continuous positive airway pressure, obstructive sleep apnea, oral appliance, partner, spouse Citation: Luyster FS. Impact of obstructive sleep apnea and its treatments on partners: a literature review.

Snoring time versus snoring intensity: Which parameter correlates better with severity of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome?

“…Our findings are all the more important when looking at recent studies showing an association between OSAS and quality of life of bed partners. [ 27 28 ] These people are, in fact, exposed to a loud and frequent sound that can cause a noise-induced hearing loss. [ 29 30 ]…”

Detection Performance Regarding Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Episodes with Fuzzy Logic Fusion on Single-Channel Airflow Indexes

“…Moreover, this method can be used with an embedded real-time system because it effectively reduces computational power requirements by focusing on time-domain features within 130 s window frames, requiring less signal processing in feature extraction, applying a dynamic threshold to adapt to real-time signal changes, and, most importantly, shortening the time required to build a fuzzy logic model without a training process. Reports have indicated that portable monitors measuring three or more physiological parameters (level 3 and level 2 monitoring) offer accurate results in comparison with laboratory results [35][36][37][38][39]. Due to the fact that discomfort and inconvenience are barriers to the prevalence of PSG among the public, a single-channel airflow signal is one of the most applicable solutions for real-time monitoring [32,37,38].…”

“…Due to the fact that discomfort and inconvenience are barriers to the prevalence of PSG among the public, a single-channel airflow signal is one of the most applicable solutions for real-time monitoring [32,37,38]. OSAHS has serious and life-shortening consequences including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, poor quality of life, depression, and automobile accidents caused by falling asleep [39]. However, waiting times for PSG diagnosis in the United States and United Kingdom were estimated to be 2-10 and 7-60 months, respectively [40].…”

“…Moreover, when applied to the airflow sensed by an oronasal thermal sensor under the mask, our algorithm may provide an accuracy of 85% and therefore assist with determining patients with an AHI >5 and conducting PAP titration. However, the main limitation of the proposed system is that when fc = 0.5, it has low sensitivities of 54% and 38% at the thresholds of OSAHS has serious and life-shortening consequences including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, poor quality of life, depression, and automobile accidents caused by falling asleep [39]. However, waiting times for PSG diagnosis in the United States and United Kingdom were estimated to be 2-10 and 7-60 months, respectively [40].…”

Recognizing Poor Sleep Quality Factors During Oral Health Evaluations

“…5,6 Obstructive Sleep Apnea Airway collapses during the sleep cycle, preventing normal breathing, causing lack of oxygen to the brain, preventing the individual from reaching deep sleep along with body and brain repair. 1,5,6,13,14 Poor memory processing, poor emotion processing [2][3][4][5][6]9,12,37 out of the deep stages of sleep, they are prevented from obtaining rejuvenation of the body and brain needed to achieve or maintain optimal health. 1,2 Sleep arousals can be caused by poor sleep hygiene, restricted airway, systemic health issues, or cognitive health issues.…”