When most people think of sleep apnea, they usually associate the condition with middle-aged to older adults. But sleep apnea can happen anytime throughout your life.

Sleep apnea peaks in early childhood and then again during middle and older age. When kids have sleep apnea, most of the time it’s related to enlarged tonsils and adenoids (tissue in the back of the nose). For adults, the biggest risk factors are obesity, aging, and being male.

Here’s what you need to know about the risk of sleep apnea across your lifespan.

Can Sleep Apnea Start in Childhood?

While obstructive sleep apnea can happen anytime in your life, it may first appear in childhood between the ages of 2 and 8, when the tonsils are actively growing. Kids in this age group usually develop sleep apnea when there’s not enough space in the back of their throat for air to flow easily during sleep.

Sleep apnea can also happen in kids who don’t have normal muscle tone. This low muscle tone causes the back of their throat to collapse when they’re sleeping.

Children with Down syndrome have a significant risk of developing sleep apnea. In fact, half to three-quarters of children with Down syndrome also have sleep apnea.

Interestingly, someone who develops sleep apnea as a young child may outgrow it before adulthood. One study found that by the time kids with sleep apnea were between 12 and 19 years old, more than half of them no longer had symptoms.

Which Age Group Has the Greatest Risk of Sleep Apnea?

Because sleep apnea is often underdiagnosed in both kids and adults, it’s difficult to say definitively which age groups are most at risk for sleep apnea. However, it seems that adults are more at risk.

One study found that the prevalence of sleep apnea in preschoolers could potentially be as high as 20 percent. Another study found that sleep apnea may affect up to 75 percent of people older than 65.

As for young adults between the ages of 18 and 30, more and more are being diagnosed with sleep apnea than in years past. One systematic review found that roughly 16 percent of young adults develop sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea tends to be more common in men than in women, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. But sleep apnea in women can increase significantly after menopause.

How Does Sleep Apnea Differ Depending on Your Age?

Most people assume that sleep apnea symptoms are the same regardless of your age, but that isn’t completely accurate. While pauses in breathing are a consistent symptom across age groups, other symptoms can vary, particularly when comparing children and adults.

For instance, young kids with sleep apnea may not snore. Instead, they may just have disrupted sleep.

Here’s a comparison of sleep apnea symptoms in young kids and sleep apnea symptoms in adults. There are both overlaps and differences.

How Does Treatment Vary by Age?

When a child has moderate to severe sleep apnea, their healthcare provider may recommend surgery to remove all or part of their tonsils and adenoids to open their airway.

Partial removal is usually less painful than a complete removal, but it also comes with the risk that the tonsils will grow back.

Overall, some studies have found that surgery tends to work well and reduce the symptoms of sleep apnea. One study found that after surgery, 98 percent of kids showed a reduction in their apnea-hypopnea index (the average number of times they stop breathing).

For adults with sleep apnea, the gold standard of treatment usually involves wearing a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine at night. When worn consistently, a CPAP machine improves sleep and reduces daytime sleepiness, boosts mood, improves memory, and improves daily functioning.

For adults, sleep apnea surgery is generally only recommended if they cannot tolerate using a CPAP after three months or other options don’t work.

Why Does the Risk of Sleep Apnea Change With Age?

Sleep apnea is most common in young children and in older adults and is related to anatomy and the way the throat changes at that particular age.

For instance, sleep apnea in children is largely related to the increased size of their tonsils and adenoids as well as the muscle tone of their throat muscles. Each of these factors can disrupt breathing during sleep.

Newer studies suggest that increased prevalence of childhood obesity may also contribute to OSA. When associated with obesity, OSA may not respond well to airway surgery.

Likewise, in older adults, changes in the upper airway may explain why sleep apnea is more common at their age. For instance, the soft palate and throat get larger with age. This increases the likelihood that the airway will be blocked and cause sleep apnea.

Aging also causes fat to build up around the throat, even if your weight doesn’t increase. This can also affect breathing during sleep, especially if it blocks the airway.

The muscles that keep your airway open also become weaker and less responsive as you get older. This makes the airway more likely to collapse during sleep.

Overall, age-related airway structures as well as muscle tone and function make your airway more likely to collapse. This helps explain why kids and older adults are at higher risk for developing obstructive sleep apnea.

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