The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865)

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
J.W. von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.
Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)

Description of a new interdisciplinary educational program for patients who have OSA.
Golay A, Girard A, Grandin S, Métrailler J-C, Victorion M, Lebas P, et al. A new
educational program for patients suffering from sleep apnea syndrome.
Patient Educ Couns 2006;60:220–7.

Prevalence in the USA:  4,2% of population may suffer from sleep apnea.
The National Health & Nutrition Survey, 2005-6 (2.1, n=6139, UCLA)

80% of patients who have drug resistant hypertension do have SDB - Sleep Disorders Breathing.
Logan & al., J. Hypertension 2001

45% of all hypertension patients have SDB, AHI>5 (N=6'132)
Nieto & al., JAMA 2000, 283 (14) : 1829-1836.

Efficient CPAP treatment reduces blood pressure by10 mm Hg both during sleep and awake.
Becker & al. Circulation 2003

Survival odds increased by 25% as a result of CPAP treatment, cardio-vascular risk decreased by 46%, stroke risk decreased by 49%, trafic accident risk decreased by 31%, survival odds without incident increased by 92%, for a total cost reduction of £973 over14 years.
Catalyst study 2008

Professional drivers have a high risk of somnolence reslting from shift work and apnea/hypopnea syndrom. Somnolence of professional drivers is very dangerous.
Vennelle Marjorie; Engleman Heather M; Douglas Neil J;   Department of Sleep Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.  Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung ( Germany )  Feb 2010 ,  14 (1) p39-42

80% of patients who undergo bariatric surgery do have SDB.
O'Keffe and Patterson, Obes. Surg. J. 2004

65% of patients who have a stroke do have SDB.
C. Basseti, SLEEP, 1999

For clinically defined sleep apnea, prevalence among male is 3.9% versus 1.2% among female, which results into a global sleep apnea ratio of male versus female of 3.3:1 (p = 0.0006)
N = 1’000 female and 741 men– cohort phase I
Data from, confirmed by,  Terry Young, ERS sept. 2007.

Effect of sleep apnea on mind and temperament.
B. El-Ad, P. Lavie P.  Int Rev Psychiatry 2005;17:277–82.

In view of the clinical evidences of under-recognition of sleep apnea among women, a more acurate knowledge of specific gender related mecanisms  should be developed together with a general awareness among women.
A Valipour, MD, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,
Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for COPD, Otto-Wagner-Hospital, Vienna, Austria
International Journal of Respiratory Care, Autumn Winter 2008.