Recently Published Study Finds Differences in Sleep Apnea among Men and Women

In obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), an individual’s breathing pauses frequently during sleep, which can lead to symptoms like loud snoring, daytime sleepiness, and depression.

Factors like age, family history, and gender can impact OSA. For instance, men are more likely to have the disorder and experience different symptoms than women. NINR-funded researchers from the UCLA School of Nursing are working to better understand how gender affects OSA.

In a study published in PLOS One, the researchers, led by Dr. Paul Macey, report that they discovered connections between OSA symptoms and thinning of the brain’s cerebral cortex. The researchers also discovered differences in these brain changes among men and women, which could help explain why women are more likely than men to have cognitive symptoms like depression, insomnia, and anxiety with OSA.

A press release describing the research notes that the results point to “the need for different treatment approaches to address these varied symptoms” among men and women.

The full paper is available here .