Genetics of sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder. It is when you stop breathing for a few seconds. And then start again. This can happen over and over. It can be serious. Signs include loud snoring. Gasping for air while you sleep. Waking up a lot at night. Or waking up with a headache The most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA. With OSA, the muscles in the back of your throat relax. This causes your airway to get smaller or close when you breathe in. And the amount of oxygen in your blood goes down. When these happen, your brain wakes you up so you can reopen your airway. You wake up and go back to sleep fast. So most people do not remember waking up. We can treat OSA. The most common way is to use a CPAP machine. CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure. They help keep your airway open. And stop the snoring and apnea.Risk factors for OSA include smoking. Being overweight. Use of alcohol or certain sleeping pills. And other family members with OSA. Older people are also at higher risk. Scientists think that genetics may play a part in who gets OSA. Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center will use BioVU to study OSA. They will look for people who do and do not have OSA. Then they will look for changes in and near genes in both groups. They hope to find a link between some of the changes and OSA. The goal is to find out more about OSA. Who will get OSA. And who may be at risk. Their results may help us better diagnose OSA. They may also help us better treat OSA.