Sleep Specialist Warns Of Lurking Apnea In Non-Obese Patients

CAMDEN, NJ (CBS) -- Most people with sleep apnea could stand to lose a few pounds -- but that's not always the case.

Sleep specialists estimate that  five percent of the population suffers from obstructive sleep apnea, a condition causing a person to stop breathing repeatedly at night.

Dr. Thomas Nugent, director of sleep therapy at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, says most patients are overweight but some thin patients can and do suffer as well.

And he says that doctors can often miss the condition in a person who is physically fit.

"Doctors were trained that sleep apnea occurred in obese people, and that is the case that more obese people have sleep apnea," he told KYW Newsradio on Friday.  "But it does occur in thin people.  It also occurs in children."

And he warns that if left untreated, sleep apnea can be associated with heart problems, high blood pressure, daytime exhaustion, and low oxygen levels in the blood.

"It would have to do with the size of their chin in the lateral projection," Dr. Nugent explained.  "Some people have very large tonsils.  Most of it occurs in the area right behind the tongue, and it has to do with a narrowing of that airway."

Reported by Lynne Adkins, KYW Newsradio 1060.