The snore wars

Accumulating clinical experience suggests that OSA is a major public health issue in both men and women. Successful management of OSA requires multidisciplinary input from a number of health professionals and significant commitment by the patient. Clearly, the fact that OSA presents predominantly in middleaged men with a range of other health issues including obesity, referral for snoring issues may be a timely entry point in to the health care system. General advice in relation to OSA is likely to be of considerable value in lessening cardiovascular risk and optimising health outcomes. However, OSA also poses several management challenges, most notably in terms of patients who report snoring in the absence of daytime drowsiness. In such individuals, clear history-taking is essential to establish that drowsiness is indeed not an issue. Certainly it would seem prudent to alert all patients, asymptomatic or not, of the heightened risk of cardiovascular disease attributed to OSA.