Quote:

Facial profile predicts sleep apnea-study

By Megan RauscherThu Jun 30, 9:59 AM ET

People with a steep jaw line and a crowded or narrowed air passage at the back of the throat are at increased risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), regardless of their weight or ethnic background, a study shows.

People with OSA suffer frequent, short periods during sleep when they stop breathing. The condition is linked to high blood pressure and other heart conditions.

"OSA is prevalent worldwide but is under-recognized and therefore under-treated," Dr. Frank Ryan from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver told Reuters Health. "The common denominator in the vast majority of patients with OSA is a narrowed or constricted airway at the back of the throat."

Major factors leading to this airway narrowing include obesity, variations in facial bony structure or a combination of both, the researcher explained. Craniofacial abnormalities may be a more important factor in some ethnic groups, he said.

To see whether the craniofacial profile is predictive of OSA, Ryan and colleagues studied 239 consecutive patients who were referred to sleep clinics in Hong Kong and Vancouver for suspected sleep disordered breathing.

"Our study showed that, in a mixed sample of patients of both sexes that included whites and Asians, a crowded or narrowed air passage at the back of the tongue and soft palate and a steep jaw line were the best predictors of OSA, regardless of the patients' ethnic group or their degree of obesity," Ryan told Reuters Health.

Because these abnormalities of the craniofacial profile are easily identified on routine clinical examination, they are a potentially useful tip-off to the possibility of OSA, he added.

SOURCE: Thorax June 2005.

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I can attest that this is true.  I am not heavy, so obesity isn't the problem.  The doctor told me that everything is so crowded at the back of my jaw.  I have a jaw that is "set-back"


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Allen L. Clark

I'm around 20 lbs overweight but my doctor said that, even with weight loss, I would still have OSA.  It might improve some, but I would still have it.  I think about my father, who had the same profile I have, and I think he had apnea.  As kids, we would laugh at him when he'd snore after falling asleep watching TV.  His snoring would start and then stop.  We didn't know about sleep apnea at the time.  My father lived to 82 years old and my mother said his snoring lessened during the last years of his life.  Anyways, I guess I got my father's chin (or lack thereof) and that's why I have OSA.  

I'm 45 and I've been on CPAP for a year and feel much better.  Still bummed out about it, if I have to be honest, but I'm glad the CPAP is providing me with some relief.


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Diagnosed with OSA in Feb. 2005. Live and work in Boston, MA.