Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Sleep apnea
Pauses in breathing while sleeping
HP:0010535
What it means
An intermittent cessation of airflow at the mouth and nose during sleep is known as sleep apnea. Apneas that last at least 10 seconds are considered significant, but individuals with sleep apnea may experience apneas lasting from 20 seconds up to 2 or 3 minutes. Patients may have up to 15 events per hour of sleep.
In everyday care
Most people with this sign do not have a rare disease — it appears in common conditions far more often. These general reference pages cover the same topic:
Rare diseases that can present with this40
Very common80–99%
4Common30–79%
12Sometimes5–29%
22- 16p11.2p12.2microdeletion syndrome
- AGel amyloidosis
- Alazami syndrome
- Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome
- Cleidocranial dysplasia
- Coffin-Lowry syndrome
- Cognitive impairment-coarse facies-heart defects-obesity-pulmonary involvement-short stature-skeletal dysplasia syndrome
- Congenital infiltrating lipomatosis of the face
and 14 more in this range
The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.
Part of the broader category
Also called: Sleep apnoea
Tracking symptoms like this for someone? Eleplan keeps symptoms, diagnoses, medications and every specialist in one plan.
Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.