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Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Aging: A Narrative Review
David Brower, Eric Pan, William Goss, Younghoon Kwon, William Healy. Sleep medicine research, 2025-09-29
Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment
Obstructive sleep apnea is one of the most common sleep disorders. It can greatly increase patient sleepiness, and is associated with cardiovascular and neurological disease. As people age, they are more likely to develop the disease, so with an aging population, understanding how OSA effects the elderly is increasingly important. This review summarizes sleep medicine's understanding of the disease in older people. It discusses the epidemiology of OSA in this population and then examines differences in risk factors relevant in the elderly, including the effects of menopause. Next, we review the symptomology, with special attention paid to comorbid insomnia, before examining challenges in diagnosing OSA in older people. We examine the pathophysiology of OSA in the elderly with particular focus on changes in anatomy and sleep architecture, as well as positional OSA. We then discuss the intricacies and effectiveness of various treatments including continuous positive airway pressure and surgically implanted devices. We finish by exploring OSA's implications in cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. OSA is a very common disease in the elderly, with the potential to significantly reduce the patient's quality of life. This review should serve as a resource for sleep medicine physicians to further educate themselves on this topic.
Key findings
- It can greatly increase patient sleepiness, and is associated with cardiovascular and neurological disease.
- OSA is a very common disease in the elderly, with the potential to significantly reduce the patient's quality of life.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 43/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multi-centre collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 24 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 43 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Sleep medicine research) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 41459405) |
| Free to read | — / 2 | Access not recorded — left out of this score |
| Points | 24 / 56 | Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 24 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 43 out of 100. |
| Total | 43 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Brower, D., Pan, E., Goss, W., Kwon, Y., & Healy, W. (2025). Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Aging: A Narrative Review. Sleep medicine research. https://doi.org/10.17241/smr.2025.02964
Vancouver
Brower D, Pan E, Goss W, Kwon Y, Healy W. Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Aging: A Narrative Review. Sleep medicine research. 2025. doi:10.17241/smr.2025.02964. PMID: 41459405.
BibTeX
@article{brower2025-41459405,
author = {Brower, David and Pan, Eric and Goss, William and Kwon, Younghoon and Healy, William},
title = {{Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Aging: A Narrative Review}},
journal = {Sleep medicine research},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.17241/smr.2025.02964},
pmid = {41459405},
url = {https://doi.org/10.17241/smr.2025.02964}
}
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