Muscle is heavy. When it loses its tone, the airway collapses. In one study, researchers at the Osler Chest Unit of Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England, queried 900 male patients between the ages of 35 and 65. Measurements taken included weight, height, neck circumference, and resting arterial oxygen saturation, a measure of how much oxygen is getting into the bloodstream. Weight was implicated in a study of more than 1,000 sleep apnea patients at the Stanford Sleep Disorder Clinic.
Premenopausal women are more protected than older women.
With menopause, the prevalence of sleep apnea among women becomes closer to that for males. Minn. Role in Other Disorders Experts believe that sleep apnea probably has several causes. Sleep apnea also occurs in some patients with Marfan syndrome, an inherited disorder in which anatomical structures built of connective tissue are very weak. A Marfan patient's weakened airway may collapse easily, impeding airflow. The older and more overweight the patient, the greater the risk of a cardiovascular complication.