Obstructive sleep apnea in premenopausal women. A comparison with men and with postmenopausal women

Because obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is unusual in premenopausal women, we describe ten women with this syndrome and compare them to 13 postmenopausal women and with 32 men with OSA. Two premenopausal women had structural abnormalities of their pharynx, and the remaining eight were significantly more obese than men with OSA. In these eight patients, there was no relationship between pulse flow resistance and the degree of OSA in contrast to significant relationships in postmenopausal women, and men. Hypercapnia occurred in three premenopausal women, no postmenopausal women and in two men. We conclude that premenopausal women with OSA are more likely than men and postmenopausal women to have structural abnormalities of their upper airway, to be extremely obese, and to be hypercapneic, and that OSA occurs in them independent of their upper airway dimensions.