Dedicated to the problem of underbreathing, a.k.a. hypopnea. Here causes, syptoms, consequences, risk factors and ways of treatment of hypopnea are covered.
Hypopnea can be characterized by recurrent episodes of upper airway obstruction during sleep. They are commonly associated with the so called recurrent oxyhemoglobin desaturation and frequent arousals from sleep. The term obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is frequently used when such episodes are associated with excessive daytime sleepiness. The majority of patients with obstructive sleep…
We have determined that hypopnea is an abnormal type of breathing when the airflow is labored because of some pathology of the respiratory system. Generally speaking, breathing turns out to be quite a complicated issue. And apart from hypopnea there rather a large number of other breathing patterns. Let’s have a look at some terms…
When breathing is normal the breath airflow is 100% to 70%. Hypopnea is a decrease in breathing when hypopnea-airflow is 69% to 26% of a normal breath. There is the hypopnea index (HI) that can be calculated by dividing the number of hypopneas by the number of hours of sleep. But as far as hypopnea…
So in case of hypopnea there is intermittent collapse of the upper airway and reductions in blood oxygen levels during sleep. A sleeping person becomes incapable to breathe normally and awakens with each collapse. As a result the quality of sleep is reduced considerably. If hypopnea is not treated the consequences of the disease can…
Hypopnea comes from the Greek roots hypo- (meaning low, under, beneath, down, below normal) and pnoe (meaning breathing). Literally it means underbreathing. In case of hypopnea breathing is shallower or slower than normal. It is a sleep disorder that can be characterized by person’s repetitive stops of breathing or low breathing for short periods of…