Sleep Apnea - Diagnosis - Diagnosis
Your doctor may diagnose sleep apnea based on your medical history, a physical exam, and results from a sleep study. Before diagnosing you with sleep apnea, your doctor will rule out other medical reasons or conditions that may be causing your signs and symptoms.
Medical history
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Sleep Apnea - Diagnosis
To help diagnose sleep apnea, your doctor may consider the following:
- Information that you provide, such as signs and symptoms that you are experiencing
- Whether you have a family history of sleep apnea or another sleep disorder
- Whether you have risk factors for sleep apnea
- Whether you have complications of undiagnosed or untreated sleep apnea, such as atrial fibrillation, type 2 diabetes, or hard-to-control high blood pressure
Physical exam
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Sleep Apnea - Diagnosis
During the physical exam, your doctor will look for signs of other conditions that can increase your risk for sleep apnea, such as obesity, large tonsils, narrowing of the upper airway, or a large neck circumference. A neck circumference greater than 17 inches for men or 16 inches for women is considered large. Your doctor may also look at your jaw size and structure, the size of your tongue, and your tongue’s position in your mouth. Your doctor will check your lungs, heart, and neurological systems to see whether you have any common complications of sleep apnea.
Sleep studies
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Sleep Apnea - Diagnosis
To diagnose sleep apnea or another sleep disorder, your doctor may refer you to a sleep specialist or a center for a sleep study. Sleep studies can be done in a special center or at home. Studies at a sleep center can:
- Detect apnea events, which are times when your breathing stops or slows during sleep
- Detect low or high levels of activity in muscles that control breathing
- Monitor blood oxygen levels during sleep
- Monitor brain and heart activity during sleep
Your doctor may be able to diagnose mild, moderate, or severe sleep apnea based on the number of sleep apnea events you have in an hour during the sleep study.
- Mild: Five to 14 apnea events in an hour
- Moderate: 15 to 29 apnea events in an hour
- Severe: 30 or more apnea events in an hour
Visit Sleep Studies for more information.
Did you know that sleep studies can help determine which type of sleep apnea you have?
Sleep studies can monitor the movement of your muscles and help determine breathing patterns and whether you have obstructive or central sleep apnea. Sleep studies of patients with obstructive sleep apnea often show an increase in breathing muscle activity when muscles try to open an obstructed upper airway. In contrast, sleep studies of patients with central sleep apnea tend to show decreased activity in chest muscles, which can lead to periods of slowed or no breathing.
Ruling out other medical reasons or conditions
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Sleep Apnea - Diagnosis
Your doctor may order the following tests to help rule out other medical conditions that can cause sleep apnea:
- Blood tests to check the levels of certain hormones and to rule out endocrine disorders that could be contributing to sleep apnea. Thyroid hormone can rule out hypothyroidism. Growth hormone tests can rule out acromegaly. Total testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) tests can help rule out polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
- Pelvic ultrasound to examine the ovaries and detect cysts. This can rule out PCOS.
Your doctor will also want to know whether you are using medicines, such as opioids, that could be affecting your sleep or causing breathing symptoms of sleep apnea. Your doctor may want to know whether you have traveled recently to altitudes greater than 6,000 feet, because these low-oxygen environments can cause symptoms of sleep apnea for a few weeks after traveling.
Reminders
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Sleep Apnea - Diagnosis
- Return to Risk Factors to review family history, lifestyle, or other environmental factors that increase your risk of developing sleep apnea.
- Return to Signs, Symptoms, and Complications to review common symptoms of sleep apnea.
- Return to Screening and Prevention to review how to screen for and prevent sleep apnea.