5 ms·

This seems pretty tenuous. As the article alludes to, snoring is considered a key symptom of obstructive sleep apnea. As far as I know, the strongest known inde

This seems pretty tenuous. As the article alludes to, snoring is considered a key symptom of obstructive sleep apnea. As far as I know, the strongest known independent risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea is neck circumference. Obesity has a larger raw correlation, but that's because it's both a cause and a symptom (sleep disruption impedes physical activity and alters metabolism and appetite); with neck circumference the correlation is still present even when it's measured at birth.

Hydraulix989 8y ago
It doesn't seem so tenuous to me. The entire working mechanism behind snoring is predicated on the airway narrowing enough to vibrate, producing sound. As you know, obstructive sleep apnea is a condition where the airway narrows so much that it collapses, causing cessation of breathing.
- 0xcde4c3db 8y ago
  I'm not sure what your objection is. What I find tenuous is the link between snoring/apnea and jaw size, not the link between snoring and apnea.
  - Hydraulix989 8y ago
    Assuming the link between snoring/apnea and jaw size -- not the link between snoring and apnea -- is actually what you originally found tenuous, consider that the most effective surgical treatment for OSA: the maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) with 80% to >90% success rate wrt some measure of a "successful" outcome. MMA is a procedure that literally increases the jaw size by moving the jaw forward, which enlarges the airways. FWIW, I've spent a lot of time researching OSA since I've had severe sleep apnea (AHI ~30 apneas/hour) since childhood. Some startup really needs to figure out a more comfortable way of treating sleep apnea than CPAP or highly invasive (and $100k not-covered-by-insurance) jaw surgery...
    - 0xcde4c3db 8y ago
      I'd never heard of this procedure, just the approach of using a dental appliance to advance the jaw, with poor success rate (something like 20%). The only surgery I've seen widely referenced is turbinate reduction, which supposedly also has a < 50% success rate in treating OSA. I'm surprised I'd never heard of MMA since it apparently does have a very good success rate even without diluting the analysis with practically meaningless effect sizes (mean AHI reduction of 47.8 in a recent meta-analysis [1]). [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26606321 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26606321
      - Hydraulix989 8y ago
        Do you have a reference RE poor success rate of mandibular advancement dental appliance? I'm curious because I also had the same poor result when I tried one.

Hydraulix989 8y ago

It doesn't seem so tenuous to me. The entire working mechanism behind snoring is predicated on the airway narrowing enough to vibrate, producing sound. As you know, obstructive sleep apnea is a condition where the airway narrows so much that it collapses, causing cessation of breathing.

0xcde4c3db 8y ago
I'm not sure what your objection is. What I find tenuous is the link between snoring/apnea and jaw size, not the link between snoring and apnea.
- Hydraulix989 8y ago
  Assuming the link between snoring/apnea and jaw size -- not the link between snoring and apnea -- is actually what you originally found tenuous, consider that the most effective surgical treatment for OSA: the maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) with 80% to >90% success rate wrt some measure of a "successful" outcome. MMA is a procedure that literally increases the jaw size by moving the jaw forward, which enlarges the airways. FWIW, I've spent a lot of time researching OSA since I've had severe sleep apnea (AHI ~30 apneas/hour) since childhood. Some startup really needs to figure out a more comfortable way of treating sleep apnea than CPAP or highly invasive (and $100k not-covered-by-insurance) jaw surgery...
  - 0xcde4c3db 8y ago
    I'd never heard of this procedure, just the approach of using a dental appliance to advance the jaw, with poor success rate (something like 20%). The only surgery I've seen widely referenced is turbinate reduction, which supposedly also has a < 50% success rate in treating OSA. I'm surprised I'd never heard of MMA since it apparently does have a very good success rate even without diluting the analysis with practically meaningless effect sizes (mean AHI reduction of 47.8 in a recent meta-analysis [1]). [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26606321 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26606321
    - Hydraulix989 8y ago
      Do you have a reference RE poor success rate of mandibular advancement dental appliance? I'm curious because I also had the same poor result when I tried one.