Risk of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Lower in Double Reed Wind Musicians

Abstract

Study Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by a collapse of the upper airway. Respiratory muscle training with a wind instrument (didgeridoo) in patients with moderate OSA has been previously shown to improve OSA symptomology. However, a survey of orchestra members did not indicate a difference in OSA risk between wind and non-wind instrumentalist. The present study examines whether playing of different wind instrument types may affect the risk of OSA. Methods: A national sample of active musicians (n = 906) was surveyed through the internet. Participants' risk for OSA was determined by the Berlin Questionnaire. Additional survey items included questions about general health and musical experience. Results: A binary logistic regression was conducted to determine if OSA risk was predicted by gender, age, number of years playing instrument, number of hours per week playing instrument, and instrument type. Musicians who played a double reed instrument had a lower risk of OSA (p = 0.047) than non-wind instrumentalists. Additionally, in double reed instrumentalists, the number of hours spent playing the instrument predicted lower OSA risk (p = 0.020). The risk for OSA in other wind instruments (i.e., single reed, high brass, and low brass) was not signifi cantly different from non-wind musicians. Conclusions: Playing a double reed musical instrument was associated with a lower risk of OSA.

Mechanics of circular breathing in wind musicians using cine magnetic resonance imaging techniques

“…Furthermore, the instrument utilized may impact learnability and efficacy. Ward et al demonstrated in a nationwide survey study that rates of OSA were lower in double reed instrumentalists, but not in wind instrumentalists, compared to the general population . Although our findings suggest that native instrument resistance does not alter the oropharyngeal dynamics of the technique, there may be differences in therapeutic efficacy depending upon the instrument used.…”

Overnight polysomnography and the recording of sleep and sleep-related respiration in orchestra musicians – possible protective effects of wind instruments on respiration

“…As age and years of practice were positively correlated, we assume that improvement of sleep-related respiration is due to the habitual playing of the WI and therefore, the increased training of the upper airway muscles. This has been indicated by survey studies investigating the digeridoo and double reed WI [14][15][16]. Our sample of WI players included four double reed instruments (oboe, bassoon), but also five other…”

“…While working conditions of professional musicians may negatively affect their sleep patterns, recent studies discovered that playing instruments that require use of certain muscles may have a positive effect on sleep-disordered breathing events [14][15][16]. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a chronic sleep-disordered breathing condition caused by recurrent upper-airway collapse during sleep [17,18].…”

“…Training the airway muscles that control airway dilatation and wall stiffening may diminish collapse of oropharyngeal muscles at night and improve sleep [22][23][24]. Only two web-based surveys investigated such a preventive effect in professional musicians with rather inconclusive results [16,25,26].…”

Obstructive sleep apnea in women

“…Hatásos lehet a naponta elvégzett pár perces uvula-, nyelv-, állka-pocs-és légcsőtorna, amely az izmok tónusának fokozása révén hosszú távon javítják az alvás közbeni átjárhatósá-got is [51]. Ilyen elven segíthet a fúvós hangszereken való játszás is [52], bár erre nem minden kutatásban találtak elegendő bizonyítékot.…”