The Basics of Sleep Apnea and Its Genetic Tendencies

A person with sleep apnea often experiences pauses in breathing as they sleep, leading to the distinct snoring habit that bed partners are all too familiar with. Furthermore, interrupted sleep causes daytime fatigue, headaches, and difficulty concentrating. It also ups the risk of serious health problems like heart attack and stroke.

As a result, people interested in learning more about sleep apnea would like to know what causes it. Furthermore, they wonder if there’s a genetic element to the condition, as many people with sleep apnea have family members with the same condition.

Is It a Genetic Condition?

The body’s response to genetics plays a role in sleep apnea, a common disease that can cause unsafe pauses in breathing during sleep and bouts of fatigue during the day. People with this condition, which has multiple causes, have a higher risk of developing it if they have a family member who also has the disorder.

A study shows that having a close family member with obstructive sleep apnea increases a person’s risk of developing it. A genetic predisposition towards sleeping face down and a family history of the condition may increase the risk by about 50%.

There may be multiple ways genetics may predispose a person to OSA:

Your genes play a role in your body weight and body fat distribution, including where the fat is located in your body. You are also more than ten times as likely to have OSA if you are obese.

Your face anatomy is determined by your genes and greatly impacts the size of your airway and the ease with which it can become blocked. Your nose size and shape also greatly impact how wide your mouth and airway are and how easily they become blocked.

Your breathing control mechanisms are also quite influenced by your genetics; specifically, how precisely you control your breathing, the strength of your respiratory muscles, the synchronisation between your chest and abdominal muscles during breath intake, the frequency of breaths you take during a period of time, as well as some neural signals involved in breathing. These various components’ interactions determine whether or not you experience OSA while sleeping.

Finally, while we know that a person’s genes influence his sleeping cycle, we don’t yet know how they categorically influence sleep patterns specific to OSA. We need more studies looking for these sleep patterns.

A Call for More Research

Genetic factors play a role in obstructive sleep apnea. However, people of different races react differently to the condition, and further research is required to substantiate these findings. Published research has also suggested possible overlap in the genes related to OSA and high triglyceride levels. The research into this connection is still in its early stages, but it appears that more studies are needed.

Certain disorders present at birth, like Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and Prader-Willi syndrome, are also among the most common genetic causes of obesity in children. Obese children are much more likely to have OSA.. Roughly 60% of obese children have OSA. As obesity rates increase, the number of obese children with OSA will also rise.

Children with OSA are at a higher risk for neurological disorders such as epilepsy and migraine headaches. Currently, no studies have researched OSA in children.

Conclusion

Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious condition that impacts the lives of millions of people across the world. While it can be treated, it can only be cured by treating the underlying causes. If you or a loved one has sleep apnea, talk to your healthcare provider about the treatment options that can immediately ease your symptoms and improve your sleep quality.

If you are looking for a well-trusted sleep apnea clinic in Canada, look no further than our institution here at Lethbridge Snoring & Sleep Apnea Clinic. We provide sleep testing to help understand and assess underlying sleep conditions. Call us today and book your first sleep test appointment with us.