Obstructive sleep apnea is being increasingly recognized as an important cause of medical morbidity and mortality. Young t 1 peppard pe gottlieb dj. Short Sleep Mortality And Morbidity Epidemiological Findings The epidemiology of adult obstructive sleep apnea highlights of the 2008 publication by the ats journal online. Epidemiology of sleep apnea . Epidemiology of obstructive sleep apnea. Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea osa has become widely recognized only in the last few decades as a likely cause of significant morbidity among children. Snoring and obstructive sleep apnea is characterized by recurrent episodes of partial or complete collapse of the upper. Obstructive sleep apnea osa is characterized by recurrent episodes of partial and complete airway obstructions during sleep with repetitive apneas and hypopneas as a result the disease severity is measured using the apnea hypopnea index ahi i e the mean number of apneas and hypopneas per hour of sleep. Epidemiology o...