TY - JOUR T1 - Chronic hypoventilation and its management JF - European Respiratory Review JO - EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY REVIEW SP - 325 LP - 332 DO - 10.1183/09059180.00003113 VL - 22 IS - 129 AU - Anita K. Simonds Y1 - 2013/09/01 UR - http://err.ersjournals.com/content/22/129/325.abstract N2 - While obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome dominates discussion of the prevalence of sleep disordered breathing, nocturnal hypoventilation remains extremely prevalent in those with chronic ventilatory disorders and in the natural history of these conditions pre-dates the development of daytime ventilatory failure. In this review the clinical management of chronic hypoventilation in neuromuscular disease will be considered and then compared with that in obesity hypoventilation syndrome. In simple terms these conditions illustrate the polar opposite ends of the spectrum, as in neuromuscular disease the reduced capacity of the respiratory system is unable to withstand a normal respiratory load, and in obesity hypoventilation syndrome the normal capacity of the respiratory system is unable to tolerate a substantially increased ventilatory load. ER -