OSAHS is a serious,prevalent sleep breathing disorder that has signiflcantly high morbidity and mortality when untreated.OSAHS has been shown to be an independent risk factor of serious systemic diseases,such as hypertension,ischemic heart disease,cerebral vascular disease, congestive heart failure and arrhythmias.Many factors could regulate OSAHS in pathogenesis mechanism.Recent researches suggest that the disrupted hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)axis activity plays a great role in OSAHS.In this article,we will review the abnormal HPA axis and its possible mechanisms in patients with OSAHS.