Ten days after India lost her nightingale, Lata Mangeshkar on 6 February, the nation lost ‘Disco King’ Bappi Lahiri to obstructive sleep apnea in a private hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday {16 February}.
Doctors at Mumbai’s CritiCare hospital, who were treating the veteran singer and ace composer, told news agency PTI that he had multiple health issues and he died due to OSA {obstructive sleep apnea} shortly before midnight.
Here’s a look at what is OSA, its causes and how in some cases it could also cause death.
What is sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts.
It occurs when the muscles supporting the soft tissues in your throat, such as your tongue and soft palate, relax.
This causes your airway to narrow or even close, momentarily cutting off your breathing.
Normally, air should flow smoothly from the mouth and nose into the lungs at all times, including during sleep.
Periods when breathing stops completely are called apnea or apneic episodes. In OSA, the normal flow of air is repeatedly stopped throughout the night.
Those suffering from OSA may not sleep well but they probably won't know that it’s happening with them.
There are different types of sleep apnea:
• Obstructive sleep apnea is the more common form that occurs when throat muscles relax. You may start to breathe with loud gasps or jerk your body. This can affect your sleep, lower the flow of oxygen to your vital organs, and lead to abnormal heart rhythms.
• Central sleep apnea occurs because the brain fails to tell your muscles to breathe because of issues in your respiratory control centre.
• Complex sleep apnea syndrome, which doctors also call treatment-emergent central sleep apnea, happens when you have both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea.
What are the symptoms of sleep apnea?
The person suffering from sleep apnea won’t catch the symptoms of the disease and in most cases, the bed partner will detect that something is wrong.
The most common signs of one suffering from the disease are:
• Loud snoring
• Episodes in which you stop breathing during sleep — which would be reported by another person
• Gasping for air during sleep
• Awakening with a dry mouth
• Morning headache
• Difficulty staying asleep {insomnia}
• Excessive daytime sleepiness {hypersomnia}
• Difficulty paying attention while awake
• Irritability
• Night sweats
How do doctors diagnose sleep apnea?
It’s not very easy to diagnose sleep apnea as most times people are even unaware that they are suffering from the disease.
However, the physician will look into the patient’s family history for sleep apnea or other sleep disorders and whether one has a risk factor for the condition.
In some cases, doctors do prescribe a sleep test, which monitors the heart and brain activity during rest.
Is sleep apnea dangerous?
It is a disease and other than the headaches and restlessness, it could also lead to more serious complications.
When sleep apnea is untreated, doctors say it can lead to hypertension {high blood pressure}, heart dieases, stroke, diabetes, abnormal heart rhythm and pulmonary hypertension.
In very serious cases, such as Bappi Lahiri's, it could also lead to death.
Sleep apnea in India
During a 2021 conference, doctors had noted that about 40 lakh people, particularly, the elderly and obese, suffer from obstructive sleep apnea in India.
Dr Srinivas Kishore S, Director Department of Otorhinolaryngology was quoted as telling New Indian Express that being overweight was one of the main reasons for sleep apnea in India.
"A significant number of them were overweight and not necessarily obese. Yet they had obstruction in breathing. This implies that changed lifestyles are not just leading to diabetes and BP etc, but also to Obstructive Sleep Apnea," he was quoted as saying.
Dr Seemab Shaikh, founder president of the Indian Association of Surgeons for Sleep Apnea, also noted that the coronavirus pandemic has contributed significantly to the rise in sleep apnea cases.
Treatment of sleep apnea
Depending on the seriousness of the disease, doctors will prescribe different treatments for it. In mild cases, one may only need to make lifestyle changes. Doctors may ask a patient to lose weight, stop smoking, or treat nasal allergies {if you have any}.
In more serious cases, the doctor will recommend the use of a Continuous positive airway pressure {CPAP} machine. This machine sends air pressure through a mask while you’re asleep. This air pressure is greater than that of the air around you, which helps keep your upper airway passages open to stop apnea and snoring.
If other treatment options don’t help, your doctor may suggest surgery.
With inputs from agencies
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