Criteria
CSA is divided in 6 categories, Primary CSA, Cheyne–Stokes respiration, High-altitude periodic breathing, CSA due to a medical condition without CSB, Central sleep apnea due to a medication or substance and Treatment Emergent Central Apnea (also called Complex Sleep Apnea). The following symptoms are present in the Primary CSA: excessive daytime sleepiness, frequent arousals and awakenings during sleep or insomnia complaints, awakening short of breath, snoring, witness apneas. His polysomnography shows ≥5 central apneas and/or central hypopneas per hour of sleep, representing at least 50% of total respiratory events in the apnea-hypopnea index. CSA with Cheyne-Stokes breathing is characterized by at least one of the criteria of Primary CSA or the presence of atrial fibrillation/flutter, CHF, or a neurologic disorder. His polysomnography looks like the Primary CSA polysomnography with the addition of a ventilatory pattern compatible with CSB. High-Altitude Periodic Breathing requires that the patient has recently been at least 2500 meters. In the CSA due to a medication or substance, opioid or respiratory depressants must had been taken. For the CSA due to a medical condition without CSB, the criteria are the same as Primary CSA, but the symptoms are caused by a disease. In the Treatment Emergent Central Apnea, there was firstly some obstructive respiratory events but after their disappearance, the CSA has appeared.
Sudden infant death syndrome is sometimes theorized to be attributable to sleep apnea; the recommendation, prevalent since the mid-1980s, of placing infants on their backs rather than their stomachs for sleep represents an attempt to prevent those instances of breathing cessation that are attributable to compressive obstruction. Premature infants with immature brains and reflex systems are at high risk for central sleep apnea syndrome, even if these babies are otherwise healthy. Premature babies who have the syndrome will generally outgrow it as they mature, provided that they receive careful enough monitoring and supportive care during infancy to survive. Because of premature infants propensity toward central apnea, medications that can cause respiratory drive depression are either not given to them or administered to them only under careful monitoring, with equipment for resuscitation immediately available. Such precautions are routinely taken for premature infants after general anesthesia; administration of caffeine has been found not only to aid in maintenance of respiratory function after general anaesthesia but to reduce apnea for preterm infants regardless of context. Diagnosis
A diagnosis of sleep apnea requires determination by a physician. The examination may require a study of an individual in a sleep lab, although the AAST has said a two belt IHT (In Home Test) will replace a PSG for diagnosing obstructive apnea. There, the patient will be monitored while at rest, and the periods when breathing ceases will be measured with respect to length and frequency.