09/28/2026
🔎What if insomnia isn’t a reason to rule out sleep apnea in women—but a reason to look for it?
👩🏻‍⚕️Women with obstructive sleep apnea do not always present with the stereotypical picture of loud snoring, witnessed pauses in breathing, and obvious daytime sleepiness.
➡️Instead, they may report insomnia, waking unrefreshed, morning headaches, or changes in memory—and those symptoms may be blamed on stress, depression, or menopause.
đź“ŠResearchers recently proposed a female-focused screening tool called the OSAF-5w. It includes five symptoms:
• Snoring
• Non-refreshing sleep
• Memory impairment
• Morning headaches
• Insomnia
-In their female cohort, a score above 2 had 75% sensitivity and 67% specificity for moderate-to-severe sleep apnea. It also performed better than STOP-BANG and the Berlin Questionnaire in that group.
-This was a preliminary study in a selected sleep-clinic population, so the tool still needs external validation.
‼️But the larger message matters:
‼️In women, insomnia does not rule out sleep apnea.
Sometimes, it is THE clue.
Save this post—and share it with a woman whose sleep symptoms have been dismissed as “just stress” or “just menopause.”
Reference: Trotta L, Antonaglia C, Fabozzi A, et al. Women and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: Can we finally ask the right questions? The OSAF study. Sleep Medicine. 2026;144:108932. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2026.108932
