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Sleep apnea risk check

Sleep apnea symptoms happen while you are asleep, so they are easy to miss. This is a short checklist of published risk factors, with a result in plain English and a next step. It runs in your browser and your answers are never sent anywhere.

Do you snore?

1.Do you snore?

Loud enough to be heard through a closed door, or to bother someone sharing the room.

Has anyone seen you stop breathing, gasp or choke while asleep?

2.Has anyone seen you stop breathing, gasp or choke while asleep?

Or you wake yourself up gasping, choking or short of breath.

Are you tired or sleepy during the day, even after enough hours in bed?

3.Are you tired or sleepy during the day, even after enough hours in bed?

Not "could do with a coffee", but fighting to stay awake reading, watching TV or in a meeting.

Do you have high blood pressure, or take medication for it?

4.Do you have high blood pressure, or take medication for it?

How old are you?

5.How old are you?

What was your sex at birth?

6.What was your sex at birth?

Obstructive sleep apnea is roughly two to three times as common in men, so it changes the reading.

Height, weight and neck size

7.How tall are you, and what do you weigh?

Used to work out BMI, which is the single strongest body-related risk factor. The numbers stay in this tab.

Do you own a recording pulse oximeter?

8.Do you have a pulse oximeter that records overnight?

Not scored. It only changes what we suggest you do next.

What the questions are asking about

  • Witnessed breathing pauses. The heaviest item, and the only one that lifts the result on its own.
  • Snoring. Counts for less than you might expect. Plenty of people snore without apnea, so it matters in combination.
  • Daytime sleepiness. Not tiredness: fighting to stay awake when you are not choosing to sleep.
  • High blood pressure. Apnea is more common in people with hypertension.
  • BMI and neck circumference. Neck size tracks soft tissue around the airway more directly than weight. A BMI in the healthy range does not rule anything out.
  • Age and sex. More common with age and in men. The gap narrows after menopause, which is why the checklist asks.

Why this is not STOP-BANG

STOP-BANG, the Berlin Questionnaire and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale are copyrighted, and their licences do not allow use in a commercial product. The risk factors themselves are published science. The wording, weights and bands here are our own, so this checklist has no validation study behind it. Use it as a prompt, not a test result.

What a questionnaire cannot do

Every question asks what you or someone else has noticed. That misses anyone who sleeps alone. A recording pulse oximeter logs oxygen and pulse all night, and our free session viewer turns one night into a desaturation index, time below 90% and a one-page report for an appointment. It still does not tell you whether you have apnea.

What happens if you do see a doctor

Usually a short conversation, a licensed questionnaire and, if those point the same way, a sleep study. That is often a kit you take home that records airflow, breathing effort, oxygen and pulse. An oximeter cannot see airflow or effort, so it cannot stand in for that test. Home oximetry is not a sleep study.

Not a medical device. Does not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition. Discuss results and changes with a clinician.

Not a medical device. Does not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition. Discuss results and changes with a clinician.